Telangana NHM contract employees receive salary assurance from health department

Members of the NHM Contract and Outsourcing Employees Union on Tuesday said they received a call from the office of the Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare assuring them that two months’ salary out of their pending dues of four months will be settled by March 21. The remaining dues will be settled next month.

Nearly 17,000 contract employees affiliated with the National Health Mission (NHM) in Telangana, who have endured a salary drought since December, have been urging the government to clear their outstanding salaries. They had scheduled a statewide strike for March 22 if their salaries are not paid by March 21.

In response, the Commissioner, also serving as the Mission Director of Telangana NHM, had held a meeting with union representatives on Monday and reassured them that their salaries would be settled by March 20.

Rama Rajesh Khanna, the general secretary of the union, said: “We will wait to ascertain if the government fulfils its commitment to pay two months’ salary. Upon receiving, we will postpone the strike and wait till next month for the remaining dues to be cleared. Failure to do so will prompt us to proceed with our plan to strike on March 22.”