Srinagar, 05 Dec (KNO) : Doctors Association Kashmir(DAK) President Dr. Suhail Naik in a communique said
that National Health Mission(NHM)Employees are protesting for their legitimate and genuine demands
since past 2 weeks but it seems Govt. is in deep slumber and instead of making a policy regarding their
issues Govt. is using authoritarian approach by lathi charging the employees in which female employees
are also not spared but are even manhandled. ”We condemn this approach of Govt. towards
democratically protesting employees in the strongest possible words” Dr Naik said.
Dr Naik further said that “the authorities are presenting a rosy picture in front of Govt. vis a vis present
Health Dept. scenario but the fact is totally in contrast. Due to the shortage of staff working capacity of
regular staff is being stretched beyond human limits as they are being kept on night duty roster every
second day which is humanly impossible and is against the National law. Even leaves of regular staff
have been cancelled which is the “right” of every employee. Regular staff is excessively overburdened at
present and are working beyond their normal capacity. If the Govt. doesn’t take any concrete steps in
solving the NHM Employees issue the time is not far off when the whole Govt. Health Dept. machinery
will collapse.
Dr Naik further said that “we support the genuine demands of our NHM employees brethren especially
equal pay for equal work and maternity leave benefits for female employees and have asked our
doctors to observe 2 hour pen down strike from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM on 08/Jan/2018 i.e., Monday”.
“All the Out Patient Departments (OPDs) will remain closed during this time barring casualty and
emergency theaters” he further elaborated.
DAK demands Govt. to make a policy regarding NHM employees issues so that justice is served to them
otherwise we will have no other option but to aggreviate our protest further.(KNO)