J&K NHM employees to suspend strike

Striking employees of National Health Mission (NHM) today said they would call off their strike after the Jammu & Kashmir government decided to set up a committee to examine their demands.
A delegation of NHM Employees met Minister for Health Bali Bhagat here and discussed their issues with them.
NHM employees including doctors and paramedics took out a rally in Jammu city to press for their demands.
The employees are demanding regularisation in services, equal pay for equal work, and other benefits on par with other government employees, claiming that most of them have completed about a decade of contractual service and have crossed the age bar limit.

The strike by 13,000 NHM employees has hit patient care at various district and sub-district hospitals and primary health centres in remote areas across J&K.
The minister directed the Commissioner-Secretary Health & Medical Education to form a committee of senior officers which will examine all the issues of the NHM employees and make its recommendations.

The government will examine these recommendations sympathetically, the minister assured.
The employees thanked the ministers for hearing them and assured to call off the strike and resume routine work.
The minister assured he would examine their genuine issues on merit which will be addressed within the legal framework.

He said the government was committed to the welfare of the employees and will take all necessary steps for this.
He urged them to suspend their strike and resume their routine work immediately, saying strike is not the solution and all issues can be addressed amicably through dialogue.