SRINAGAR: MLA Budgam, Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi on Wednesday has extended support to protesting National Health Mission (NHM) employees in Budgam, urging the Jammu and Kashmir Government to intervene immediately and resolve their long-standing demands concerning pay revision, job security and service reforms.
In a press statement, Mehdi said NHM employees had been serving people since 2007 and had played an important role in extending healthcare services, particularly in rural and underserved areas.
He expressed concern that despite repeated government assurances, including an assurance made in April 2026 that the genuine demands of NHM employees would be addressed through pay revision and necessary reforms in their service conditions, no concrete resolution had been reached.
Mehdi described the employees’ demands as genuine and called for a time-bound mechanism to address their concerns, noting that they had been providing essential healthcare services for nearly two decades.
He also referred to the situation in Ladakh, saying that if the government there had been able to address the concerns of NHM employees, a similar approach should be adopted in Jammu and Kashmir. He called for equal recognition and protection of the rights of employees delivering essential healthcare services.
According to the statement, more than 100 NHM centres are reportedly locked amid the ongoing dispute, with poor and needy patients allegedly bearing the brunt of the disruption.
Mehdi urged the government to ensure the immediate resumption of healthcare services at all affected centres and begin meaningful dialogue with the protesting employees.
He also called upon the government to honour its assurances and take concrete measures on pay revision, service reforms and a fair mechanism for resolving the employees’ long-standing grievances.
“The interests of patients and healthcare workers must not be allowed to suffer due to administrative inaction,” he said, urging the government to act without further delay.
