Srinagar, Oct, 02,: Hundreds of contractual employees of the National Health Mission (NHM) today held massive protest at press colony in Srinagar against their abrupt termination and to press for continuance of their services.
According to official reports, the government has terminated over 2000 such employees from services.
The government is exercising a ‘use and throw’ policy with us and we condemn it,” said one Shahid Bashir, an NHM employee, who was one of the lead protesters.
He said they had joined service in hospitals across valley at the peak of the first wave of Covid-19 last year when no one wanted to come out of their homes.
We risked our lives. There were no attendants with Covid patients … We even picked up dead bodies with our bare hands. What did they do? They terminated us and dumped us,” said one of the protesting female NHM workers.
“We were promised that if we served in the best way, we will be regularised in the services. But instead of regularisation, they threw us out after using us during the worst Covid period,” she said.
Meanwhile, Principals and HoD’s of various medical institution have submitted their recommendation to higher authorities seeking continuity of NHM employees in the hospitals,
The protesting employees demanded regularisation and urged authorities to reconsider their decision of sacking them.