More than 12,000 NHM employees are on strike and hospitals are feeling the strain. The government must sit with them and offer a clear plan before patients suffer.
The strike by National Health Mission employees in Jammu and Kashmir is a serious matter for both the government and the people. More than 12,000 employees have joined the protest, which entered its seventh day this week. They say the government has not given them a clear answer with fixed dates, so they have decided to continue.
This round of protest began on September 9 with a 72-hour strike. On September 15, the employees extended it by another 72 hours. They want a proper job policy, better salaries, equal pay for equal work, regular jobs, social security and pension benefits. The protesters include staff at the district, block and field levels, among them workers linked to the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme and other NHM schemes.
These workers are an important part of our public health system. They work in hospitals, health centres and field programmes. When they stay away, the whole system feels it. Hospitals have already had to change duty rosters and shift staff around. The Directorate of Health Services Kashmir has asked hospitals to keep enough staff in emergency wards, outpatient and inpatient departments, labour rooms, operation theatres, laboratories and pharmacies.
The government cannot let this dispute drag on. At the same time, the employees must remember that a long strike hurts patients, especially poor families who depend on government hospitals.
The answer is simple: talk.
The administration should call the employees’ leaders for proper talks without delay. Each demand should be examined on its own. Regularisation is not easy. NHM is a centrally sponsored scheme, so any decision needs a sound legal and financial base. The Deputy Chief Minister has said a committee is already looking into the regularisation of daily wagers and that the government wants to solve their problems within its five-year term.
But a promise spread over five years may not be enough for people who have already waited so long. They need a clear plan, fixed deadlines and regular updates from the government.
Where the rules and the budget allow, the government should give some relief right away. Salary revision, social security, pension and service matters should come first. Where employees do the same work as others, their pay should be reviewed through a fair and open process.
NHM workers deserve to be heard. Many of them have served for years on contracts, never sure of what tomorrow holds.
The government should meet them, listen to them and set a deadline to settle the matter. Patients must not suffer because of an official dispute. An agreement that keeps hospitals running and respects the workers’ fair demands is the right way forward.
