Health staff put on poll duty, claim exemption by EC

Manmeet Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 14

While on the one hand, the Health Department has instructed all employees that they cannot take leave from work till the Assembly elections are over, as they may be needed to provide medical services to a large number of security personnel and other staff on poll duty, many of them have been assigned duties as polling staff. 

The election office has assigned duties to 130 employees including medical officers of Primary Health Centre (PHC) Lopoke, 106 employees of PHC, Baba Bakala, 47 from PHC, Ramdas, and 50 from Government Medical College here. 

Taking strong objection to the poll duties assigned to the health staff, Pharmacists Association leader Shamsher Singh Kohri said, “Only a few days ago, the department had issued a letter to all Civil Surgeons, stating that all department employees including medical officers and paramedical staff cannot take leave till elections are over. Now, if the employees are required for running medical services, they should not be assigned duties as polling staff.”

Earlier, on December 13 last year, the Civil Surgeon too in a letter to the District Election Officer had stated that medical staff including doctors, pharmacists, MLTs, nurses and ANMs have been exempted from poll duties by the Election Commission. The Civil Surgeon had requested that officials preparing duty rosters should be instructed to exempt the health staff, as they would be responsible for running medical services.

Pharmacist Association leader Ashok Kumar said, “At the time of 2014 Lok Sabha elections, duties of the Health Department were withdrawn at the last moment. We request the administration that unnecessary inconvenience being caused to the medical staff should be avoided.”