Our Reporter
Dimapur, June 13 (EMN): More than 1,400 National Health Mission (NHM) employees in Nagaland, including doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, technicians and others, have decided to cease all work indefinitely starting June 14 across the state after the Cabinet’s decision to regularise the newly inducted 27 medical officers after just two weeks of appointment.
Speaking to Eastern Mirror, the president of NHM Employees’ Association of Nagaland (Nean), Dr. Shasinlo Magh, said that the 27 newly-employed general duty medical officers were initially recruited for a 12 months contract but the government’s decision to regularise them and also 'randomly recruiting them' shows the “nepotism, favouritism and discrimination” towards NHM employees who have been tirelessly rendering their services since the inception of NHM in 2005.
“Almost all NHM employees are frontline workers during this Covid-19 pandemic and we have been delivering healthcare services in the state with minimum salary and lack of any service benefits like HRA, TA/DA, ex gratia unlike the state’s counterparts,” Magh said, adding that NHM employees have to renew their contract every six months based on performance.
The doctor informed that they have urged the authority concerned multiple times to regularise the NHM employees and also maintain pay parity along with other benefits as a state employee.
“Instead of listening to our pleas and woes, the state government has randomly gone to recruit and regularise them,” said Magh.
He asked why and how the 27 doctors were employed and regularised when they have hardly rendered their services in the healthcare sector of the state.
“The government’s decision to do that has bypassed all rules and seeing that NHM employees have been tirelessly doing their duty, especially during this pandemic, has shown the apathy towards us,” shared Magh.
He reiterated that unless the government comes up with a ‘cohesive decision and do justice for Nean’, the association will continue its stir.
Another doctor and a member of Nean pointed out that they (NHM employees) have all been trained to combat Covid-19 and government has spent money for these training sessions but the new doctors will have to go through all that process of training, trials and errors, all over again.
“When they can do that for the newly employed medical doctors, how can they say they don’t have money to regularise or raise our salary?” wondered the doctor.
Further, Nean has expressed regret over the decision taken and appealed ‘to the public for forgiveness’.
NJDA expresses resentment
In a press release, the Nagaland Junior Doctors' Association (NJDA), comprising allopathic graduates and post graduates, also expressed resentment over the Cabinet’s decision and called for immediate revocation of the decision to regularise the recently-recruited 27 posts.
‘While the association has nothing against its members, the manner in which the government regularised them has come as a shock and wonder as to how the government has bypassed all the health service rules and taken such steps,’ it stated.
While acknowledging the extraordinary times, the association stated that the government cannot just override the laid down service rules and guidelines overnight ‘under the pretext of Epidemic Act’.
“The state that has attained 50 years of its inception, with no medical college, with only 420 sanctioned MO posts to cater to a population of two million, apparently woke up from its deep slumber, forgot all the service rules, and gave the medical fraternity a gimmick,” the release stated.
“Such undemocratic and unconstitutional steps are nothing but a communist (sic) way of governing. When the advertisement order clearly states that the appointees shall have no right to claim for the regularisation on any ground whatsoever, how on earth this has happened?" the association questioned.
“It has not only deprived the fundamental rights of other members but has put a big question on the way government is functioning by way of doing 'raffle system'. The fraternity treat this as a gross violation of Article 16 which provides equal opportunity in matters of public employment.
“The association also questions P&AR and demands to know under which service rule can a class-I gazetted post advertised purely on contingency basis for one year and appointed for six months be converted into regular post even before the candidates gives the joining report. Such flexibility and bending of rules doesn't seem to exist anywhere in the world,” it read.
Further, the NJDA stated that it strongly opposes the decision and would make sure that meritocracy prevails irrespective of the situation with equal opportunity and privileges to all its members and would resort to stern action for delivery of justice.
NHM employees in Mon protest
In a letter to the chief medical officer of Mon district, NHM employees working in Mon have also expressed resentment over the “step-motherly” treatment meted out by the state government.
They have stated that the government has ‘shown discrimination on NHM employees in the form of pay discrepancy and Cabinet's decision to regularise the recently appointed medical officers’ while ignoring the dedicated service NHM employees have rendered over the years.
Therefore, the decision to have an indefinite cease of work with effect from June 14 has been taken up as a sign of protest, the letter read.