Chandigarh: Health services at the Bathinda civil hospital remained paralysed on Wednesday as the employee union comprising medics, pharmacists and clinical assistants staged a protest outside the premises over a series of issues, including salary hikes and regularisation of temporary staff.
The hospital staff, raising their voice against the government’s alleged indifference to their plight, claimed they have been demanding equal pay for equal work, a remuneration hike, and gratuity, but their demands have remained unfulfilled even after four years of the AAP government.
The protesters also supported the call to shut down ‘Aam Aadmi Clinics’ in Bathinda district, claiming these clinics lacked basic facilities and infrastructure.
The protesting staff demanded that the temporary staff be regularised as soon as possible.
Employees from various departments of the civil hospital participated in the protest.
Ranjeet Kaur, a female protester speaking to IANS, said, “I have been working here for the past 18 years. None of our demands have been met. If our demands are not fulfilled, we will take to the streets.”
She said CM Bhagwant Mann had merely assured them that their demands would be met; however, despite four and a half years having passed, no attention has been paid to their demands to date.
NHM employee Avnish Kumar stated that they have five to seven major demands that have been pending for years. He alleged that the government has failed to fulfill these demands so far.
“When Bhagwant Mann’s Aam Aadmi Party government came to power in Punjab in 2022, a promise was made to regularise temporary employees, but this has not happened yet,” he pointed out.
A couple of other employees claimed that their situation hasn’t changed in the past few years.
“The government had promised equal pay for equal work and the regularisation of unskilled employees, but these promises have not yet been implemented,” said one of them.
The protesters warned that if the government does not act promptly on their demands, the agitation will intensify.
Unskilled staff from various departments of the Civil Hospital also participated in the protest held on Wednesday.
Those working at the ‘Aam Aadmi Clinics’ said that while the clinics have been opened in the city’s outskirts, adequate facilities are lacking.
(IANS)
