Nagaland NHM employees’ pledge to go on indefinite strike

In a major jolt to the Nagaland government’s efforts to contain Covid-19 pandemic, the National Health Mission Employees Association Nagaland (NEAN) has decided to go for indefinite cease work strike from Sunday, alleging injustice towards the National Health Mission employees by the state government. The association said the strike will continue till its demands are met.

The NEAN decision to strike follows the state government’s decision on Saturday to regularise the services 27 general duty medical officers who were appointed on May 27 for 12 months on the ground of constraint of man power to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

The demands of the association include regularisation of services of the state NHM employees, pay parity (equal pay for equal work) with state health employees of the same rank and all basic employees benefit in line with the health and family welfare department employees.

In a memorandum to the commissioner and secretary, health and family welfare department, NEAN president Dr Shasinlo Magh and general secretary Kewetso Kenye on Saturday said the association was amazed and disheartened at the government’s decision to regularise the services of the 27 doctors.

The memo said the association had appealed to the authority on many occasions to address the grievances of NHM Nagaland employees like regularisation of their services, pay parity with the state health employees, basic employees benefit etc.

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“However, instead of addressing the issue of NHM employees who have been rendering their services with a meager remuneration on contractual basis, the department has gone to the extent of randomly appointing and regularising services overruling all service rules and laid down rules for recruitment on the pretext of Covid-19 pandemic,” the association said.

Alleging that these regularised employees had hardly rendered their services to the department, the association said the NHM employees are well trained in various programmes, including Covid-19, and have been rendering their valuable services in delivery of health care in the state since the inception of the NHM in Nagaland.

It said at the time of the pandemic when all the NHM staff is engaged on Covld-19 duty and performing a commendable job to contain the virus, if any employee is to be regularised on the basis of the pandemic it is the NHM employees who deserve the most to be regularised and acknowledged with better remuneration. But the government instead of considering the pleas of the NHM employees has acted to the contrary by appointing and regularising others which shows lack of its concern towards the NHM employees, the association added.

It said the government’s attitude of nepotism and favouritism to some and discrimination towards the NHM Nagaland employees can never be compromised. 

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