India News | Mohalla Clinics' Staffers Protest Outside Delhi Secretariat

New Delhi, Jun 2 (PTI) The staff of the mohalla clinics staged a protest outside the Delhi Secretariat on Monday, demanding that their services not be terminated.

According to a memorandum submitted by the Mohalla Clinic Union to officials, the staffers are being sacked and some have received phone calls asking them to resign with immediate effect.

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"Our two months' salaries have been stopped so that we can be pressured. We are being made to sign no-dues forms," read the memorandum in Hindi.

Terming themselves "Covid warriors", the staff said they are facing injustice.

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Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta had assured the mohalla clinic staff last month that they would not lose their jobs amid concerns over a possible overhaul of the system and the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleging the dismissal of thousands of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and multi-tasking workers from the clinics.

Citing Gupta's assurance, the memorandum said the staff have been patient but what they are facing is "anti-humanity".

In the memorandum, the union demanded that the staff be reinstated in the new set up and their salaries disbursed.

They also put forth other demands, including paid maternity leave, an increase in wages and a festival bonus.

The staffers staged a protest outside the Delhi Secretariat on Monday morning and also observed a symbolic daylong strike to press for their demands.

The government plans to transition the mohalla clinics into ayushman arogya mandirs, aimed at providing integrated primary healthcare services to citizens, officials said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which returned to power in Delhi after a gap of more than 26 years, approved the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat scheme in the national capital at the first cabinet meeting held shortly after Gupta and six of her ministers took oath on February 20.

In her budget speech, Gupta, who also holds the finance portfolio, announced that 1,139 ayushman arogya mandirs will be set up across Delhi.

According to officials, there are 553 mohalla clinics in the national capital, of which 70 are proposed to be upgraded into ayushman arogya mandirs.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)