Despite an assurance by Health Minister Shivanand S. Patil that their demands would be considered, members of the Karnataka State Health Department Contract Employees’ Forum continued their strike for the second day on Monday.
Around 28,000 Health Department staff on contract have launched an indefinite strike seeking salaries on a par with those of permanent employees. The staff include auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs), staff nurses, doctors, lab technicians, and pharmacists. In October, the association had staged a one-day nationwide protest pressing for the same demands.
The department has about 22,000 staff under the National Health Mission (NHM), including doctors and nurses. An ANM under NHM gets ₹10,000, but a permanent employee of the Health Department may get between ₹14,000 and ₹16,000.
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Although the contract workforce is a major part of the State’s Health Department manpower, work was not hit on Monday. Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey issued a circular directing permanent staff in all government hospitals to be on duty round the clock. He also directed the heads of hospitals to cancel the leave of staff in their institutions and ensure that the hospitals function without causing any inconvenience to people. Staff from neighbouring health facilities with low patient flow have been deputed to higher centres.