Aizawl: National Health Mission Employees Union of Mizoram (NEUM), a union representing over 2,000 contractual employees under the National Health Mission (NHM) on Monday called off its agitation following an assurance from the government to meet some of its demands, more than a week later it staged a strike.
The NHM employees had initially staged a mass casual leave for three days between July 11 and July 13 demanding regularisation under the state government, regular pay, medical reimbursement and transfer allowances.
Thereafter, they went on indefinite strike from July 14 due to the meeting with state officials on July 12 remaining inconclusive.
The union president Malsawmtluanga Hauhnar said that the meeting of the union held late Sunday night unanimously called off the ongoing agitation with effect from 9 am on Monday following the assurance from the state government that it would meet their demands.
He said that the Central Committee of Young Mizo Association (CYMA), which acted as a mediator between the state government and the union on Sunday, met concerned state ministers over the demands of the union.
During the meeting with deputy chief minister Tawnluia, who also holds the personnel and administrative reforms portfolio, the CYMA representatives were told that the government would publish the recommendation and findings of the study group, which was constituted last year to assess the problems of the employees, for implementation at the earliest, he said.
State health minister Dr. R. Lalthangliana also assured the CYMA leaders that the NHM employees would be paid regularly and that the order banning the holding of strikes by healthcare workers issued under the Mizoram Essential Service Maintenance Act, 1990 (amended in 1995) would be lifted and rectified as it is basically connected with COVID-19 and not due to the strike, Hauhnar said.
During the meeting, Lalthangliana also informed the CYMA representatives that the government has paid salaries to the employees till May and salaries for June are under process.
The health minister also assured the revocation of show notices served to the NHM employees with immediate effect, Hauhnar said.
Earlier on Saturday, the government had served show cause notices to the employees and warned that they could be terminated, jailed and fined for violating the Mizoram Essential Service Maintenance Act and not honouring the agreement deed they have signed with the government on their recruitment.
The government had also issued an order banning the staging of strikes by healthcare workers under the Mizoram Essential Service Maintenance Act on July 8.
The union alleged that the government was not keen on addressing the plights of the employees by not tabling the recommendation of a study group at the cabinet meeting for implementation.
The employees were also paid very irregularly since 2014 and sometimes salaries were delayed for about three to four months greatly inconveniencing the employees, it alleged.
In July last year, the Union staged a strike demanding the same benefits prompting the state government to constitute a study to find solutions to the problems of the NHM staff.
The study group completed its assessment in April this year. Health principal secretary Esther Lalruatkimi had earlier told reporters that the NHM employees were recruited on a yearly basis as per the contract and their employment is renewed depending on their performance.
Although there is no provision to regularise the workers, the government has constituted a study group to assess the conditions of those contractual employees under the Central Sponsored Scheme (CSS), Central Sector Scheme and Externally Allied Programme or Projects and find the possibility to give better benefit to them, she had said.
State personnel and administrative reforms department secretary, Lalramnghaka, had also told a news conference earlier that they had requested the agitated healthcare workers several times to understand the situation and complexities as regularisation and providing other benefits is a long process that could not be done in haste.
He said that the study group was basically constituted to frame a policy by examining legal validity and the pros and cons to regularise the contractual employees under the state government.
However, framing a policy is a long process as certain issues, including the financial impact, existing recruitment rules, constitutional violations and litigation, have to be assessed and taken into account in the process, he had said.