Ex-Dy Speaker condemns termination of NRHM staff

Tribune News Service

Mohali, May 11

Former Deputy Speaker Bir Devinder Singh today slammed the decision of the Punjab government to dismiss National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) employees.

In a statement issued here today, Bir Devinder Singh said on one hand the entire country, including Punjab, was fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic, while on the other health workers working in hospitals of Punjab had been terminated irrationally. The dismissal of these health workers had created a medical emergency like situation in Punjab.

Bir Devinder Singh said in such a difficult time, the government should have rather accepted the legitimate demands of the protesting health workers instead of firing them. At the same time, the dismissal of health workers providing health services to patients in hospitals was nothing less than a dictator-like decision of the Punjab government.

He said if the government had already paid attention to the health services, then the health workers would not have been forced to go on strike and there would have been no shortage of health facilities. Unfortunately, the Centre and the state government had drastically failed to make adequate arrangements for health facilities.

Bir Devinder Singh suggested to Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh that he should immediately prune the strength of the army of his highly paid advisors and OSDs and recruit health workers to control the situation in the state so that precious lives could be saved. Referring to the lack of health facilities in the state during the pandemic, he said the number of Covid patients requiring oxygen in Punjab had crossed 10,000 due to inadequate health facilities in the state.