The ongoing strike of Jharkhand State National Rural Mission (JRHM) contractual employees since July 25 is affecting the medical services in all the 24 districts. As many as 62,000 JRHM staffs including 41,000 Sahiyaas are protesting for fulfilling their pending career benefits assured by Health Minister Rajendra Prasad.
“Routine works like providing medicines and guiding patients in the wards are being affected. However, we are trying to manage the absence of JRHM employees by making our regular staffs work overtime,” Ranchi District Civil Surgeon Dr Gopal Shrivastava said on Thursday.Similarly, a senior officer of Jharkhand Rural Health Mission Society said, “We are frequently receiving feedbacks from our district hospitals that their work is hampered due to the ongoing strike of JRHM employees. However, our state office is unaffected from the strike.”
The protest of these employees began by wearing black badges on July 25 and 26. On July 28 they gheraoed the Mission Society and since July 30 most of them are not working. “Today we protested in front of our respective District Civil Surgeon office. It seems successful as Health Secretary has called us for a discussion on Friday. If the Government does not regularise our employees and increases our salary, we will sit on infinite hunger strike at Birsa Chowk from August 4 onwards,” Jharkhand State NRHM Contractual Employees Association president Rahul Pratap Singh said.