Kanker, Chhattisgarh.

The 13,000 contract health workers in Chhattisgarh, including doctors, nurses and lab technicians, who had gone on an indefinite strike seeking regularisation and were protesting on the streets have temporarily withdrawn their stir, following a meeting with state health minister TS Singh Deo. He has promised that their issues regarding regularisation would be resolved soon.

An office bearer of the contract health employees’ association told Gaon Connection on condition of anonymity that they had reached an agreement yesterday. An official announcement is yet to be made. “However, in case the health minister goes back on his promise, we will strike again,” he added.

More than half of the protesting workers had submitted their resignations. The district administration had taken a strong stand against the striking contract health workers, and more than 50 people, including Hemant Kumar Sinha, president, Chhattisgarh Pradesh NHM (National Health Mission) Karmchari Sangh, and contract health employees’ association, were dismissed. It is to be seen what decision is taken about the resignations and dismissals.

Health services in Chhattisgarh government hospitals had collapsed in the absence of medical staff. It also severely affected testing for COVID-19 too. Minister Deo had appealed to the health workers to call back the strike, which he termed “ill-timed”.  

Almost every medical process pertaining to the pandemic — testing, drug dispensing, reporting, contact tracing and other services — in government hospitals in every district was brought to a screeching halt by the strike. 

“The current state government’s election manifesto had promised regularisation of contract employees,” pointed out Praveen Rajput, a health worker on strike in Kanker district. “So, the contract health staff already working in regular posts should have been regularised and the process to regularise other contract posts should also have been initiated. Instead, the health department had initiated fresh recruitment for 2,100 regular posts.”

All the contract health workers posted in COVID-19 care centres, community health centres, primary health centres, sub-health centres and other offices did not go to work for more than a week during the strike. “In this hour of crisis, we do not want to abandon those with COVID-19. This is why we gave the administration 10 days’ notice so that they could deliberate, before we went on strike,” Sinha had said.

“In the meantime, the union members chose to go to work with black bands to make the public and administration aware of their demands,” he added. “If the government does not give the 13,000 contract health workers their due, we will continue our strike till our demands are met,” Sinha had warned, and pointed out that the present government led by Bhupesh Baghel had promised to regularise workers within 10 days of assuming power.

Minister Deo had said the promises made in the manifesto would turn to reality soon. “But, this is not the time for us to compromise with public health and aggravate people’s suffering so much so that we lose their benevolence,” he reminded the striking workers.