Tuberculosis programme staff continue protest

Staffers working under the National Health Mission (NHM) for the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) at the Ludhiana Civil Hospital are protesting against the non-payment of their salaries.

“It has been nearly a year since our salaries have been delayed every month. This disrupts our everyday life. We have been requesting the authorities to disburse the salaries in time but to no avail,” Kuldip Singh, an employee, said.

“Our demand for regular pay scale has also not been accepted by the government while the neighbouring state Haryana’s employees are getting equal work, equal pay. We have been demanding the same from the past 15 years but the government has turned a deaf ear to our demands,” Navjot, another employee, added.

Employees said they had been compelled to protest due to financial hardships and lack of departmental response. The staff emphasised that they would continue serving patients under fixed honorarium rates.