The patients suffered as the doctors and other staff of the Raipur Community Health Centre (CHC) observed a day's strike on Thursday in support of their demand for release of pending salaries. The staff of Thatyud (Tehri), Sahia (Dehradun) and Naugaon (Uttarkashi) CHCs also observed the strike. These CHCs are being operated under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode by Rajbhara Medicare Private limited. The staff of these hospitals have not received their salaries for the last three months.
The agitation of the staff threw out of gear the services of the Out Patient Department (OPD) at the Raipur hospital. The hospital gets 200-250 OPD patients daily. Many patients who visited the hospital on Thursday were forced to return without getting the treatment. When contacted, the Medical Superintendent of Raipur CHC, Dr M K Joshi told The Pioneer that the staff observed a one-day token strike on Thursday and that if the salaries are not disbursed the strike could get stretched.
The MD, Rajbhara Medicare Private limited, Rajneesh Kashyap, could not be contacted. The private player’s plea is that it has not received its pending payment from the State Government due to which it is not able to disburse the salaries of the staff. It is worth mentioning here that Rajbhara is facing an inquiry of embezzlement of Government funds and would receive budget only after the inquiry is brought to some logical conclusion.
The private player is allegedly involved for burdening the State Government and charging it for unnecessary pathological and other tests of BPl patients and pregnant women. As per the MOU of Private Public Participation (PPP) model, the State Government reimburses the amount of these tests.