Home NEWS CHOs’ strike disrupts village clinic services | Vijayawada News

CHOs’ strike disrupts village clinic services | Vijayawada News


Vijayawada: Medical services, including distribution of essential medicine, have been affected in about 10,000 village clinics established under the National Health Mission (NHM) due to the ongoing strike by community health officers (CHOs), who are demanding regularisation of service. The CHOs were appointed under the NHM to provide village-level medical services. They were recruited on contract basis, with 60% of funding for salaries coming from the Union govt, and the state govt matching the remaining 40%.The CHOs are responsible for the distribution of 105 types of medicine, 14 different lab tests, and medical services.Demanding regularisation of their service, CHOs started the stir by abstaining from duties on April 24. As support staff like ANMs and Asha workers also did not attend duties in the absence of the CHOs, a vast majority of village clinics were virtually shut down. Despite alternative arrangements made by the state govt, services are yet to be fully restored across the state.According to suggestive guidelines framed under the NHM, persons who complete six years of service can be considered for regularisation. However, the state govt is reluctant to regularise the service of CHOs because they would then become employees of the govt, and the entire salary bill would have to be borne by the state.State coordinator of AP Mid-Level Health Providers Association (APMLH), S Vinod Kumar, said they have been working with the same salary for many years without any hike or regularisation of service. Even EPFO deductions were stopped recently, he stated. The demand for facial recognition system exemption for field level staff and implementation of an ex gratia policy and paternity leave have also been pending for a long time, he said, adding that although the state govt is providing them an incentive along with their fixed salary, it is not being paid on a regular basis.





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