An indefinite strike of contractual health employees, including nurses and paramedical staff, has affected medical services across Jharkhand, officials said on Friday. The contractual employees are staging a strike since January 17 demanding the regularisation of their jobs.
The contractual health staffers, including nurses, paramedical personnel, laboratory technicians and pharmacists, organised a 'havan' near Raj Bhavan during the day seeking 'sadbuddhi’ (good sense) for the state government so that it takes a quick decision regarding their demand, ANM/GNM association's state secretary Veena Kumari said.
She said health services in over 650 district hospitals, sub-divisional hospitals, primary healthcare centres, community health centres and more than 3,900 sub-health centres across 24 districts have been affected by the strike. Kumari said the strike impacted 33 kinds of services including immunisation, anti-malarial campaign, tuberculosis test, AIDS test, antenatal care, x-ray and laboratory operations, among others.
She claimed more than 10,000 contractual employees are part of the strike. Santosh Thakur, a 40-year-old patient who visited a government hospital in Dhanbad from 35 km away in Nirsa for a TB test, said he waited for three hours but no one attended to him due to the strike.
Superintendent of Shaheed Nirmal Mahto Medical College (SNMMC), Dhanbad, Dr Arun Kumar Barnwal admitted that services have been affected due to the strike. "However, we are maintaining health services with available resources," he said.
Dhanbad civil surgeon Dr Alok Viswakarma said, "The strike affected routine health work but we are providing the services with the staff appointed under District Mineral Foundation Trust (DMFT)."However, the National Health Mission (NHM), Jharkhand, Director Bhuvnesh Pratap Singh said that there was no impact on health services due to the strike.
"I don't have any information about any impact on health care services in the state," he said. When asked if the department is considering their demand, he said, "I have not yet received any formal demand from them."
