HATTIAN BALA (Kashmir English): Workers of the Maternal and Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) program in Jhelum Valley district are under uncertainty and distress because of their termination on verbal orders.
Despite serving for 15 to 17 years, 183 workers have been issued notices every three months, compelling them to hit the streets. The workers allege that the health department officers are attempting to snatch the workers’ jobs to save their entitlements.
Employees who are uncertain about their future have announced that they will commit self-immolation in front of the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, including their children.
While holding a press conference at the District Press Club Hattian Bala, employees of the MNCH program, Grade IV, said that we have been subjected to mental anguish many times before.
Now we are being removed from the centers on the verbal orders of the DHO. Despite the clear orders of the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, our budget has been approved until June 2025, but the officers of the department have become enemies of our livelihood.
The officers of the health department want to snatch the jobs of our Grade IV attendants to protect their lavish spending and other privileges. The rod of Allah is voiceless.
Our jobs should not be snatched from us. The MNCH program, which was established in 2007, continued to run successfully until 2023.
With the approval of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, this program was included in the budget of Azad Kashmir, but unfortunately, some officers of the health department ignored 237 experienced and hardworking employees in PC-1.
Their names were included after the strong protests of the employees, but they are still being mistreated. We are humiliated every three months and forced to take to the streets.
The affected employees say that we, 183 employees, have been serving in the health department for the last 15 to 17 years, but we are given notices every three months. They claim that they are being deliberately kept in an uncertain situation and the department officers are forcing them to come to the streets.
In the current situation, all the employees of the MNCH program are under severe mental stress and are being forced to take extreme measures like self-immolation with their children.
The employees say that during the Corona epidemic, when everyone was at home, these employees were working on the front line, risking their lives.
Today, these same employees are being fired from the centers under verbal orders. Dr. Farhat Shaheen is forcing us employees to stumble and stumble, she is the pioneer in firing employees.
The employees have appealed to the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, the Minister of Health, the Chief Secretary, and other high officials through the media to take immediate notice of the problems of MNCH employees.
“The Prime Minister has assured us of a budget till June, yet we are being evicted. Like all other employees, we should also be allowed to work till June, workers added.
If their rights are not protected, they will be forced to protest and hold a sit-in in Muzaffarabad. The employees further said that this program has become permanent in the federation and provinces, only in Azad Kashmir it is being run temporarily, which is a complete injustice.
Our 14 months of salaries are due. If the government does not listen to our voice, we will be forced to take direct action. We are loyal citizens of the state, we should not be made terrorists.
The affected women employees who participated in the press conference said that if we are not reinstated and our employment is not made permanent, we will be forced to commit self-immolation along with our children in front of the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.
