Jobless health workers threaten to intensify stir

Our Correspondent

Patiala, August 6

Members of the Unemployed Multipurpose Health Workers’ (men) Union decided to intensify their protest against the government for the issuance of appointment letters for 1,263 MHW posts in the Health Department during a meeting at Barandari Garden here today.  

The members are protesting the government’s alleged failure in the handling of the writ petition filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court (HC). 

Sukhveer Bawa, union’s district president, said they would stage a continuous dharna in front of the office of the Director of the Punjab Health and Family Welfare Department from August 8. He said if the government failed to file any concrete reply in the HC on August 10 — the scheduled day for the hearing of the case — they will convert the protest into an indefinite hunger strike.

The workers claimed that the recruitment process has been transparently conducted by the Baba Farid University of Health Science, Faridkot, but somebody had filed a petition in the HC alleging anomalies in the merit list due to which their joining process has came to a standstill.

They appealed to the government to file an affidavit for complying with the court judgement. 

Notably, after shortlisting the candidates, the Health Department has also given appointment letters to 919 candidates and formalities pertaining to medical have also been finished, but the HC stayed the recruitment just before the joining of the selected candidates.

The union members said they had met most of the administrative officials of the Health Department and the Health Minister, but nobody paid heed to the matter which forced them to intensify the stir.

They said the delay in the process of filling the vacant posts in the department could hit the health services.