Onlykashmir.in News Desk
BJP Media Incharge Kashmir, Advocate Sajid Yousuf Shah, has extended support to protesting National Health Mission employees across Jammu and Kashmir, calling on the government to resolve their long-pending grievances through a concrete and time-bound response rather than allowing the standoff to continue indefinitely.
In a statement, Shah said the ongoing protest by NHM employees requires the immediate attention of the government, arguing that the workforce has made a sustained contribution to the Union Territory’s healthcare system and has continued to serve people at the grassroots level, including during challenging circumstances such as remote postings and public health emergencies. He said their concerns relating to job security, regularisation, remuneration, equal pay for equal work and social security benefits deserve serious consideration from the administration.
Shah said the government should not allow the present impasse to persist without resolution, and called for direct engagement with representatives of NHM employees. He urged authorities to examine the workforce’s demands within the applicable policy and financial framework, and to place before them a clear roadmap with a defined timeline for addressing what he described as their legitimate concerns.
The BJP leader said healthcare workers who have dedicated years to public service deserve dignity, security and clarity regarding their professional future, framing the issue as one of basic fairness toward a workforce that has been central to the delivery of primary and community healthcare in Jammu and Kashmir. He said the need of the hour is decisive engagement rather than continued delay from the concerned department.
Shah specifically called on the Jammu and Kashmir Health Minister to demonstrate readiness to listen to NHM employees and work toward a fair, transparent and sustainable resolution of their grievances, signalling continued political attention to an issue that has periodically triggered agitations by contractual and mission-mode healthcare staff in the Union Territory.
The National Health Mission, which operates as a centrally sponsored healthcare delivery mechanism across rural and urban areas, has for years relied heavily on personnel employed outside the regular government cadre structure, a arrangement that employee associations in several states, including Jammu and Kashmir, have repeatedly flagged as a source of job insecurity and disparity in pay and benefits compared to regular government health staff. The BJP’s intervention adds political weight to the employees’ demand for a structured resolution from the department concerned.
