The contractual staffers working under the National Health Mission (NHM) have claimed that they have not been paid salaries for the last two months. The staffers include nursing officers, auxiliary nurse midwives (ANM), general nursing, midwives, and other supporting staff. This is a piece of highly disturbing news and the health department should immediately look into it. The majority of the staffers under the NHM are the backbone of the health department. Especially during the Covid pandemic, they played a critical role.
Health workers like nurses, lab technicians, etc, have been crucial in the fight against Covid-19. The finance department along with the health department should work out a measure to ensure that their salaries are paid on time. The staffers working under the NHM are paid very little in comparison to those belonging to the state government and they are all contractual staffers. Despite all the difficulties, they have been performing admirably and deserve to be duly paid on time for their service to the people of the state. In fact, the salaries of the health workers and teachers should never be delayed. The state government should keep them on priority. Often the people working under the NHM and the SSA complain about delays in the disbursement of their hard-earned salaries. This should end and their salaries should be released on time.