Contract employees under the National Health Mission staged a protest at the Collectorate in Karimnagar. The protest was organized by AITUC and aimed to address the issues faced by these employees. The leaders highlighted that for the past 20 years, the government has not recognized the problems faced by contract employees, despite their dedicated work during the Corona period.
The contract and outsourcing paramedical employees working in UPHC and UCHC under the National Health Mission have been raising their concerns with the government, but so far, no action has been taken. Around 17,000 employees are currently working in NHM, and many of them are not being paid salaries as per PRC guidelines. Some categories of employees are paid less than permanent employees, while others receive very low wages.
The protesters demanded that all contract employees should be paid minimum wage, DA, HIRA, and other allowances. They also argued that as per the government’s PRC guidelines, the basic and allowances of permanent employees should be decided for all contract employees, especially those who are currently receiving low wages.
The demand for equal pay for equal work, as mandated by the Supreme Court, was also raised. Additionally, the protesters called for the regularization of all 17,000 NHM employees and the implementation of basic, DA, HRA, and gross salaries for cadres where GO 510 is not yet implemented.
Several individuals including Sagar, Srikanth, Sarita, Prasad, Prashanth, Moga, Santhosh, Archana, Kamaruddin, Anjali, Nandini, Suguna, Lakshmi, Sujatha, and Sravanti participated in the protest.