By IANS
Patna : Twenty-seven dissenting health workers in Bihar have been suspended on charges of indiscipline, hooliganism and inciting people against the government, as the strike across the state enters its eighth day.
The government has recently put the health services under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) in a bid to end the ongoing statewide protest by paramedics. But that has not helped. The government has been forced to suspend 27 dissenting health workers to discipline the strikers.
“The government has suspended 27 health workers. It also directed the authorities not to allow dissenting workers to join duty,” director health services Geeta Prasad said Saturday.
The health workers have now threatened the government to launch fresh protests Dec 10 if their demands are not fulfilled.
“We will not sit silently, we will continue the strike,” Tarakant Prasad, a leader of the dissenting workers said.
The third and fourth grade health employees have been protesting the police baton charge and arrest of their women colleagues Nov 30 when they were peacefully protesting at the Dak Bungalow Square — the busiest road crossing in Patna — against the non-payment of their salaries and other benefits.
The police used batons, water cannon and tear-gas to disperse them. The strikers are now demanding their release.
The strike that has now entered its eighth day Saturday — disrupted the normal functioning of many hospitals. It has been reported that women were forced to deliver babies outside hospitals and many of whom had died due to lack of medical care.
Health Minister Chandra Mohan Rai said the government would not allow the worsening of the situation. Health services would be brought under ESMA. In many states in India, health services are already included in the ESMA list.
“My department has already directed all district magistrates and civil surgeons to take all possible measures to deal with the ongoing strike by health workers,” Rai said.
Medical services in Patna Medical College and Hospital, Nalanda Medical College and Hospital and Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital have been affected.
“The strike has badly affected the functioning of health centres, particularly in the rural areas,” a senior official of the health department said.
Meanwhile, over 3,000 government doctors working in hospitals and public health centres across the state have also threatened to go on strike if government do not increase their salaries.