GUWAHATI, April 19 - Drivers and handymen of the National Health Mission�s Mobile Medical Unit today staged a demonstration on the bank of the Dighalipukhuri protesting against the State government�s move to �privatise the medical services� and demanding job security.
The All Assam NHM MMU Driver Handymen Association, which would continue with its protest in the city tomorrow, said that the BJP-led State government must fulfil its poll promise to give social security to all the NHM employees.
�By introducing the public-private-partnership mode in the NHM, the State government has handed over our jobs to Hindustan Latex, which is not acceptable to us, as it brings uncertainty to the future of 250 drivers and handymen working in 50 Mobile Medical Units (MMU) of the State,� general secretary of the association Babul Talukdar said.
The protesters argued that while the government has adjusted the jobs of five other categories of employees of the NHM in different hospitals, PHCs etc., the jobs of drivers and handymen have been handed over to the private partners in a discriminatory manner.
�We have been rendering our services in most difficult terrains, under unfavourable conditions for the past ten years. Many of us have even crossed the appropriate age of applying for new jobs. We fear that our jobs would not be secure under the private partners,� the protesters said.
Though the government vide a notice on March 31 said that both categories of employees would enjoy the same benefits, the protesters said they do not feel reassured by the government�s promise.
�Though in a PPP mode, our jobs must be under the NHM or we must get appointments against the vacant posts in government hospitals and PHCs like the other employees,� added Talukdar.
