Ludhiana: Community Health Officers protest, want notifications on demands issued

Community Health Officers (CHOs) staged a district-level protest at Civil Surgeon's office in Ludhiana against the government’s deceptive policy regarding the resolution of their long-pending legitimate demands. A statewide protest of the Community Health Officers was also on.

A memorandum addressed to the Health Secretary, Punjab, was submitted on the occasion. The officials urged the Civil Surgeon to forward the memorandum with their recommendations to the higher authorities so that notifications regarding their demands could be issued without further delay.

A CHO, Dr Balvir, said several rounds of meetings had been held with the department concerned and the state government over the past months. On July 1, a meeting was held with the Mission Director, National Health Mission, Punjab, and on July 14, with the Finance Minister, Punjab. In these meetings, detailed discussions were held on CHOs’ financial and service-related demands and assurances were given for timely resolutions. However, no notification has been issued to date, causing widespread resentment among the CHOs.

Harpinder Kaur and Jacob highlighted main demands of CHOs which include sanctioning a regular Group-B cadre for the health officers, removing the anomaly of Rs 5,000 lower monthly salary compared to other states and releasing arrears, reinstating the loyalty bonus discontinued since 2018, merging CHOs salaries with incentives and withdrawing the newly introduced unjust incentive format for proper revision. They emphasised that all these demands were entirely legitimate and even the department had shown a positive attitude but unnecessary delays were being made in issuing notifications.

Dr Gurvinder and Dr Sarabjeet said while the government repeatedly gives assurances, these were never implemented. “The CHOs will no longer be satisfied with promises alone, they will continue their struggle till written notifications regarding their demands are issued,” they said.

They clarified that keeping public interest in mind, CHOs will continue OPD and TB-related services at Ayushman Arogya Centres while all other activities will remain suspended as part of the protest. Additionally, the CHOs will wear black badges to register their peaceful opposition against the government.

The CHO leaders warned that if notifications were not issued soon, on July 20, memorandum addressed to the Finance Minister, Punjab, would be submitted to MLAs, Aam Aadmi Party leaders and constituency in-charges across the state. If demands remain unresolved even after that, a massive state-level protest rally would be held near the residence of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in Sangrur on July 22.

“We have always provided essential health services during protests. But if the government fails to fulfil assurances and continues delaying notifications, the struggle will be intensified further, and the Health Department and the state government would be responsible for the same,” the protesters said.