NHM employees get their October salary, but pen-down strike continues in Punjab

“For more than a year now, we have been getting salaries only after the 20th of every month. Do the officers also get their salaries this way?” asked Kamboj.

He added that the state body has unanimously decided to continue the pen-down strike until a firm assurance is given on the timely payment of dues.

During the protest, the employees also met Ghanshyam Thori, Mission Director, NHM Punjab, and Special Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, and submitted a memorandum of demands.

“Apart from timely salaries, we are also demanding regularisation of our jobs and better pay scales. At present, employees get salaries ranging from ₹20,000 to ₹70,000 depending on designation and length of service. These include nursing staff and medical officers. But in the present inflationary scenario, these are not the salaries the government should be paying. They deserve better grades,” Kamboj said.

Comparison with Haryana, outsourcing concerns

Union leaders pointed out that Haryana offers much better pay scales to its NHM employees, on par with regular staff, and accordingly receives a 60 per cent funding share from the Centre.

They also recalled that in 2011, the then SAD–BJP government in Punjab had proposed the regularisation of around 1,100 nursing staff, but the proposal was later shelved.

For the past four years, the Punjab government has increasingly resorted to outsourcing even nursing staff, paying them as low as ₹8,000 to ₹10,000 per month initially, they added.

“Even a BAMS (Ayurvedic) medical officer is being outsourced at ₹20,000 to ₹25,000 per month. This is sheer exploitation of employees who have earned their degrees after years of education,” Kamboj said.

“We were assured verbally by NHM directorate officers at Chandigarh that salaries will now be released on time, but no written assurance was given. Hence, the strike will continue,” said Dr Shivraj, another State Committee Member of the union.

In Haryana, the state’s higher budgetary allocation allows NHM staff to receive better grades than their counterparts in Punjab, said Avtar Singh, another State Committee Member of the NHM Employees Union.

As per funding norms, the Centre bears 60 per cent of NHM salaries, and the state governments bear 40 per cent.

The employees now receive salaries through the Centre’s SNA-SPARSH portal, which aims to release the budget just in time when a salary claim is raised by the state government, rather than idle parking funds.

The National Health Mission (NHM) is a flagship public health programme of the Union government aimed at improving access to healthcare in underserved rural and urban areas. It was formed by merging the National Rural Health Mission (launched in 2005) and the National Urban Health Mission (introduced in 2013).

NHM focuses on maternal and child health, immunisation, disease control, primary healthcare and community participation through ASHAs.