After junior doctors, contract, and paramedical staff: second stir grips Andhra’s health department
The JAC’s plan runs from black badges and lunch-hour protests to a shutdown of online work and a State-wide dharna, ending in a duty boycott with safeguards for emergency services; the government did not respond even after the June 17 protest, its chairman said
The Health, Medical and Family Welfare Department in Andhra Pradesh is facing a second wave of agitation after junior doctors initiated a strike. Contract and paramedical employees from across the state have launched a graded protest, alleging that their demands have been ignored by the government despite a large demonstration in Vijayawada on June 17.
G. Koteswara Rao, chairman of the JAC and a nurse at King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam, expressed frustration that the government has not acknowledged their issues or addressed the committee's demands. The JAC has set a series of actions, including submitting representations to senior officials, wearing black badges during work, holding lunch-hour protests, organizing human chains, and potentially staging a shutdown of online work and a duty boycott.
The demands include regularisation of contract staff, payment of overdue salaries, ex gratia payments, and coverage for Employees' Provident Fund and medical leave. This comes as junior doctors under the Andhra Pradesh Junior Doctors' Association remain in a stipend strike, demanding a 30% increase in pay despite the government's offer of only 3%.
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