Staff at Aam Aadmi Clinics in Punjab launch indefinite strike over pay, job status

Doctors, pharmacists and clinical assistants at Punjab's "Aam Aadmi Clinics" launched an indefinite strike on Monday, July 26, halting outpatient services statewide as workers demanded permanent government job status and better pay.

The Aam Aadmi Clinic Joint Front organized protests at multiple locations across Punjab. The state's ruling Aam Aadmi Party government operates more than 1,000 of the clinics, which offer free medical treatment and diagnostic tests.

In Hoshiarpur, Medical Officer Dr. Gurshan and Clinical Assistant Gurpreet Kaur led protesters outside the Civil Surgeon's office. They said that the state government had failed to act despite repeated meetings and memoranda submitted to officials.

The front's central demand is the abolition of the clinics' empowerment system, under which workers are effectively treated as daily wagers. Employees said their salaries are paid only for days actually worked excluding Sundays and national holidays and that they receive no casual or medical leave. Any leave taken is treated as unpaid, and workers who don't return within three days risk termination, they said.

The Joint Front is calling for all medical officers, pharmacists and clinical assistants to be brought under the Directorate of Health Services through regular appointments. As an alternative, it proposed a patient-based incentive system 80 rupees per patient for medical officers, Rs 30 for pharmacists and Rs 25 for clinical assistants, along with formal appointment letters under the department.

Other demands include reclassifying clinical assistants as Auxiliary Nurse Midwives in line with their qualifications.They are also demanding the state government to grant experience weightage and age relaxation for future recruitments, and providing 15 days each of annual casual and medical leave.

Protesters said memoranda have been submitted multiple times to civil surgeons in all 23 districts, the Director of Health Services and Health Minister Balbir Singh, without any resulting notification.

The Joint Front said the strike will continue until the state government issues a notification accepting its demands.They also warned that the state government would bear responsibility for any public inconvenience caused by the suspension of OPD services.