Now Reading: Punjab Aam Aadmi Clinic staff resume indefinite strike
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Punjab Aam Aadmi Clinic staff resume indefinite strike
Contractual employees of Punjab's Aam Aadmi Clinics resumed an indefinite strike on Tuesday, shutting outpatient services across Ludhiana after the state government failed to issue promised notifications. The Aam Aadmi Clinic Sanjha…
Contractual employees of Punjab's Aam Aadmi Clinics resumed an indefinite strike on Tuesday, shutting outpatient services across Ludhiana after the state government failed to issue promised notifications. The Aam Aadmi Clinic Sanjha Front said none of their demands, including higher incentives, medical leave, job security and direct contracts under the Department of Health, had been implemented despite assurances given in July.
The strike restarted less than a month after 300 employees held a statewide protest on July 27. That agitation was called off after National Health Mission officials sought 15 days to consider demands, but the front's state president Paramjeet Singh said nearly a month had passed with no formal order. The action will hit consultations, medicine dispensing and diagnostic services until the government issues notifications.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Punjab’s Aam Aadmi Clinics are the flagship health scheme of the AAP government, launched in 2022 to deliver free primary care within walking distance. The protest exposes a recurring tension in such delivery models: contractual staff hired under the National Health Mission are paid less and have weaker job security than regular state health employees, even as they handle the clinics’ daily OPD load. The state’s own health budget for 2025-26 allocated Rs 4,510 crore, but contractual remuneration falls outside the regular pay-scale framework governed by the Department of Health. Similar strikes have hit other NHM schemes in states with large contractual workforces, often ending when states issue formal notifications revising incentive structures. The Punjab government has released no timeline for the promised notification, and with OPDs shut, the political cost of prolonged disruption at its marquee clinics will mount as assembly bypolls approach.
Source: hindustantimes.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
