- Aam Aadmi Clinic staff begin indefinite strike in Bathinda.
- All 53 clinics shut, inconveniencing thousands of patients.
- Demands include salary hike, job security, and regularisation.
Jagran Correspondent, Bathinda | Doctors, pharmacists, and clinic assistant staff posted at Aam Aadmi Clinics began an indefinite strike on Tuesday to press for their pending demands. The strike, called by the Aam Aadmi Clinic Joint Front Punjab, made a widespread impact in the district.
On the first day of the strike, all 53 Aam Aadmi Clinics in Bathinda district remained completely shut, causing inconvenience to thousands of patients. The increased patient load also placed a burden on healthcare services at civil hospitals, community health centres (CHCs), and sub-divisional hospitals (SDHs).
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Agitation Against The Mann Government
On Tuesday morning, employees working at various Aam Aadmi Clinics in the district gathered at the Civil Hospital Bathinda campus and began a protest outside the Civil Surgeon's office. During the protest, they raised slogans against the Punjab government and demonstrated vigorously in support of their demands.
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The strike caused significant inconvenience to patients who visit Aam Aadmi Clinics daily for treatment and medication. Many patients arrived at the clinics at the scheduled time in the morning, only to return disappointed to find them closed.
Pressure May Increase In Government Hospitals
A large number of patients had to turn to the Civil Hospital, CHC, and SDM for medication and testing. This significantly increased the number of patients in hospitals compared to normal days. Health department officials said that if the strike continues for a long time, the pressure on government hospitals could increase further.
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After the launch of Aam Aadmi Clinics, a large number of patients began receiving primary health care, free medicines, and essential diagnostic facilities near their homes. This reduced the burden on civil hospitals. Now, with the clinics closed, patients are forced back to hospitals.
Several Rounds Of Meetings Held With The Government
Addressing the protest, union leaders said several rounds of meetings have been held with the government, each time assuring positive consideration of the demands, but no written notification has been issued to implement any of the assurances. Employees allege that the demands have been pending for a long time, forcing them to resort to conflict.
What Are Key Demands?
Union leaders said their main demands include an annual increase in salary and incentives, facility of casual and medical leave, job security, improvement in service conditions and regularisation of services of employees.
They said doctors, pharmacists and clinical assistants have played an important role in the success of Aam Aadmi Clinics, but despite this, their demands are being continuously ignored. The protesters claimed that they had met with the Chief Minister, Bhagwant Mann and the Health Minister, Dr Balbir Singh, several times to raise their demands. Despite this, no concrete action had been taken by the government. They said that mere verbal assurances would not resolve the employees' problems.
The indefinite strike will continue until the government issues a written notification regarding their demands. Union leaders said similar protests are taking place outside civil surgeon offices not only in Bathinda but also in various districts across Punjab.