Punjab Newsline | Chandigarh
Punjab Finance Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema on Wednesday held a series of meetings with various employee unions under the Health and Family Welfare Department to address their grievances and demands.
Prioritising the working conditions of frontline healthcare workers, Cheema directed the Health and Family Welfare Department and the Rural Development and Panchayat Department to provide ASHA workers and facilitators with suitable spaces, including Panchayat Ghars and other Panchayat buildings, to conduct vaccination drives on alternate days.
The Finance Minister also directed the Health Department to promptly submit a proposal to the Cabinet Sub-Committee regarding casual leave and other legitimate demands of ASHA workers and facilitators. He assured the delegations that their remaining demands were under active consideration and that a favourable decision would be announced soon.
Addressing broader concerns relating to salary hikes, pay parity, leave policies, regularisation and transparent transfers, Cheema instructed the Health Department to place all justified demands before the Inter-Departmental Committee. He further directed the committee to meet once a week to ensure the timely resolution of employees’ grievances.
The meetings were attended by representatives of several employee unions and associations, who submitted memorandums highlighting their respective demands.
Durgo Bai, Balvir Kaur, Rajinder Kaur and Swaran Kaur represented the All India ASHA Workers and Facilitators Union; Saroj Bala, Seema Rani, Joginder Kaur and Parminder Kaur represented the ASHA Workers and Facilitators Union Punjab (CITU); while Kirandweep Kaur, Pawanpreet Kaur and Mandeep Kaur represented the ASHA Workers and Facilitators Narol Union.
Sandeep Kaur, Amandeep Singh, Dinesh Garg and Sukhjeet Singh attended from the NHM Employees Union. Dr Sunil Targotra, Dr Daljeet Kumar and Dr Raj represented the Community Health Officers Association, while Shubam Sharma and Deep Kamboj represented the Pharmacy Officers’ Association.
Gurmeet Singh, Navjot Kaur and Rajinder Kumar attended from the Rural Health Pharmacy Officer Union, while Ram Singh, Navdeep Kumar, Sarabjeet and Raj Kumar represented the Sehat Pharmacy Officer Association.
Parminder Singh, Navdeep Singh and Tarsem Sharma represented the Government Drug De-Addiction and Rehabilitation Employee Union. Jasmail Singh, Gurjant Singh, Mahinder Pal Singh and Ashu Garg attended from the Punjab AIDS Control Employees Association (Health Department).
The PCMS Dental Association was represented by Dr Ashutosh Sharma, Dr Dharminder Singh, Dr Harpreet Kaur and Dr Vikrant Sharma.
The discussions focused on improving employees’ working conditions, addressing service-related issues and ensuring timely consideration of the demands raised by different sections of Punjab’s healthcare workforce.
