BENGALURU: While the state government has announced a salary hike of up to 15% to the National Health Mission (NHM) insourced employees who have been on an indefinite protest for the last 20 days, the employees said they will not get back to work. They said their protest will continue till all the contract employees are regularised. The indefinite protest has already affected the delivery of more than 50 national programmes.
Speaking to TNSE, Padma Rekha, committee member, of Karnataka Rajya NHM Insource Employees Association, said “There are nearly 30,000 NHM employees right from doctors and surgeons till Group D workers, like technicians. We want to be regularised and we will not return to our work till this demand is met.”
She said NHM workers take care of more than 50 national health programmes, like the mental health programme, Rastriya Bala Swastya Karyakram, Rastriya Kishor Swastya Karyakram, National Tuberculosis Eradication Program and are working relentlessly at the non-communicable disease clinics and urban health centres, including the recently launched Namma Clinics. All these services have been affected putting citizens into trouble, she said and requested the government regularise them at the earliest.
On the state government’s order passed on Saturday announcing a wage hike up to 15 per cent for the NHM staff, Padma Rekha who works as a social worker under the District Health Mission said, “Seven years have passed since I joined the service. While my basic salary is a mere Rs 25,000 without any benefits, a state government employee is drawing nearly Rs 60,000 along with TA, DA, insurance and other benefits. There are employees whose experience has crossed a decade, while their salaries have remained around Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000. The hike ordered by the government is negligible for such workers.”
The protesting members said NHM workers have been regularised in Manipur and Rajasthan and the process is going on in other four states, including Telangana.
The government order has clarified that the hike will be applicable only for in-source /contractual employees taken under NHM and shall not be applicable to outsourced employees.
Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said the government is striving for the benefit of the employees and added that the government has fulfilled the long-pending wage hike demand by ordering the 15 per cent salary hike for the contract employees working under NHM.