Bengaluru: Contract staff of health department to begin stir today

BENGALURU:  More than 20,000 staff who are on contract with the health department will go on an indefinite strike from Sunday demanding salaries on par with that of permanent employees. This is part of a nationwide strike as part of the National Health Mission in October 2018. Another 10,000 contract-based employees have extended their moral support to the strike.

The total strength of these employees is 30,000. The group, including doctors, lab technicians, pharmacists, staff nurses and auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs), will protest at Freedom Park from 10.30 am, which several suspect might affect services at hospitals. 

However, project director of the department ruled out any shortage or services being hit, and clarified that there wouldn’t be any such issue. He said, “We have enough staff including doctors and nurses. Even if contract employees go on strike, we will have enough people in our department - there is no need to panic,” explained Dr H L Prabhakar, project director, Health Department.

Meanwhile, Vishwaradhaya H Yamoji, president, Karnataka State Health Contractual and Outsourcing Employees Association (KSHCOEA), said, “Though we have no intention of disturbing medical services in the state, we have about 30,000 contractual and outsourced staff whose salaries are not even half of what a permanent employee gets. The work we do is the same as what they do. We don’t even refuse working in shifts. This issue needs to be clarified by the state government even before the elections,” he said.

Another lab technician, Sushma N S, who has given her full support to the strike, said, “A lab technician like me gets Rs 12,000 as salary, while my colleague, who is a permanent employee, gets Rs 50,000. This is not done and is very unfair, we need equal pay. We will not call off the strike till our demands are met.”