1400 doctors, 6000 paramedics stare at dark future
Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, June 26: The National Health Mission (NHM) employees along with RNTCP and JKSACS today said that they do not have any job security despite working on the frontlines amid COVID-19 pandemic.
In order to highlight their issues, the Joint Coordination of these employees said that while it is a matter of pride that health indicators of the Union Territory have shown improvement, at the same time they are most vulnerable and insecure.
“The lack of job security, meager salary and lack of social security haunts us day in and day out, which has now started to affect our social standing and psychological wellbeing; it is all despite working on frontlines amid COVID-19 pandemic,” Abdul Rauoof, Chief Spokesperson of All J&K NHM Employees’ Association said.
There are at least 8000 such employees that include around 1400 doctors, 6000 paramedics and 600 managerial professionals who have been working for the last 13 years in J&K under NHM, RNTCP JKSACS under contract basis.
While dwelling more into the details, the employees said that with no social security at their disposal, 32 NHM employees have so far died due to various reasons and their kin had to resort to begging in order to make their ends meet.
They said that around 10 of their fellow employees got infected with the COVID-19 and are still undergoing isolation or are undergoing quarantine; however, their role in fighting the pandemic was never acknowledged.
“Many of us have had to take loans to clear their medical bills. We are even unable to afford decent education to our children and medical care to our dependents,” he said.
The NHM employees said that they are facing injustice and inequality in comparison to their counterparts on the regular establishment. They have the same qualification, skills, work experience, and working hours are same as us, they, however, get four times higher salary than we get apart from social security and other benefits.
They rue after J&K Union Territory came into the being, the regular employees have been given several new benefits, “but continue to ignored,” the employees said.
It is pertinent to mention here that the contract employees working under SRO-24-formerly SRO 384-in J&K are paid a minimum of the scale wages which is much higher than the remuneration that the NHM employees are getting.
The employees said that their core demands are the job policy and equal pay for equal work.
“We would like to ask what is preventing the government from framing a policy for the absorption of NHM/ RNTCP/ JKSACS employees in the H&ME department,” they said.
Notably, the earlier government of the J&K had set up a high-level Group of Officers to examine the grievances of these employees; however, nothing has come out of it so far.
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