KL News Network
Srinagar
Around ten thousand doctors, managerial staff and paramedics working in different hospitals and health centres under union government’s flagship programme National Health Mission (NHM) Saturday observed one day protest strike across the state, affecting patient care adversely.
The call for the protest strike was given by All J&K NHM Employees Association and supported by other health employees’ associations.
Hundreds of employees assembled at different district and block headquarters across the state holding protest demonstrations, demanding regularisation of their services on the analogy of other centrally sponsored schemes.
Vice President of the Association Altaf Ahmad said they have been demanding regularisation of their contractual services for last several years “but the authorities have failed to respond to their demands, which exhibits their callousness towards our plight”.
He said the association is planning to launch a mass agitation to seek decisive redressal of their demands from the government. “We are contemplating indefinite strike during which the employees will hold chain hunger strikes at Srinagar and Jammu. The government must respond to our demands or we shall have no other option but to resort to agitation recourse”, he added.
“We have been waiting for social security measures, equal work for equal pay apart from final resolution through regularisation of services but we have only been handed assurances so far. We urge the Chief Minister to personally intervene into the issue”, said Syed Bilal Ahmad, an employee.
