NHM Employees’ strike: Haryana sacks 6 Association office-bearers

On Monday, state health minister Anil Vij had warned employees that services of those who went on strike would be terminated.

Vij said Tuesday that FIRs might be registered against the employees terminated from service for disrupting health services in the state.

Those whose services have been terminated include Association chief Surender Gautum, vice-president Vijay Kamboj, secretary Atul Gijwani and members of the Association Vikram Soni, Tarandeep Singh and Pushkar Dahiya.

“They are contractual employees and cannot go on a strike. Further, they are seeking regularisation. It is specified in their contracts that they cannot seek regularisation. In case they go on strike, their services can be terminated without notice. We will not allow anyone to disrupt the health services,” said Vij.

Terming the strike “illegal”, he said that in view of prevalence of diseases like dengue and chikungunya in Haryana and neighbouring states, strike amounted to abdication of responsibility and posed a grave risk to the health of patients and the society.

The NHM employees association, meanwhile, said they would continue with their protests across the state. There are around 12,000 employees on contract under the NHM.

Surender Gautum, president of the Association, said, “We are going to continue our strike. The employees who did not go on strike today will join tomorrow. It is a fight for our rights. The government is acting in an unjust manner.”

*Doctors call off strike

Doctors who had announced to go on strike from October 26 have deferred their decision. President of the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association, Jasbir Singh Panwar, said that the government fulfilled some of their demands and promised the others would be favourably looked into.

Panwar said that the notification for increasing post mortem allowance had been issued and the notification for increasing retirement age of doctors from 58 to 65 years was likely by the end of the month.