SRINAGAR: Health and Medical Education Minister Sakeena Itoo on Thursday appealed to National Health Mission (NHM) employees in Jammu and Kashmir to end their strike and return to duty, assuring them that the government would examine their demands and take steps on issues within its purview.
Speaking to reporters in Pampore, Itoo said the government had held several rounds of discussions with the protesting employees and that she had also interacted with them.
“They are our own people, and it is their democratic right to raise their concerns,” she said, adding that the government had already engaged with the employees on their demands.
Itoo said she had directed the concerned department to examine the issues raised by the employees through their representations.
She said the government would take necessary measures on matters falling within its authority, while urging the employees to ensure that the ongoing agitation did not cause hardship to the public.
“I hope they will call off their strike and return to their duties. The government will certainly do whatever it can for them,” the minister said.
The NHM employees’ agitation entered its ninth consecutive day on Thursday, with workers continuing peaceful demonstrations at district and block headquarters across the Jammu and Kashmir divisions.
Itoo also stressed the public’s trust in the medical profession and healthcare workers while appealing to the protesting employees to resume their duties.
