Healthcare employees protesting pending demands of Seventh Pay Commission end hunger strike at RML Hospital

Government healthcare employees sat on a two-day relay hunger strike, beginning on Wednesday, in support of long pending demands for the Seventh Pay Commission benefits.

The protestors sat on a dharna at the gates of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital here. The strike ended on Thursday with a protest march across the RML Hospital.

"The union had initiated a two-day relay hunger strike on March 15 against non-implementation of the recommendations made by the Seventh Central Pay Commission," said Mukesh Sharma, Secretary, Ram Manohar Lohia Employees Union.

The Government of India had given assurances to remove all anomalies caused due to the implementation of Seventh Pay Commission regarding minimum salary rise, revision of salary allowances and evaluation of new pension policy.

"But the government is yet to take any concrete step in this regard," Sharma added.

The employees union has also demanded that Hospital Patient Care Allowance/Patient Care Allowance (HPCA/PCA) should be made part of the basic pay as has been done in the case of non-practicing allowance for all health staff, including nursing personnel.

"We are also demanding that it should be extended to all health institutions in the country and to all levels of health employees," said another agitator in the protest march.

Another major demand raised by the confederation is the regularisation of contractual workers and employees.

The employees union has accused the government of hiring workers on contractual basis, rather than regularising them.