Telangana: Pleas of contract, outsourced workers in Health Dept fall on deaf ears

Many of them have been discharging duties for 18 year to 20 years at meager salary and are facing an uncertain future, with nothing to fall upon after retirement

Hyderabad: The State government remains a mute spectator to the travails of contract and outsourced workers in Telangana who have been discharging their duties at various capacities in the Health Department. Many of them have been discharging their duties for 18 year to 20 years at a meager salary and are facing an uncertain future, with nothing to fall upon after retirement.

In August, the Medical and Health Services Recruitment Board (MHSRB) notified 1,931 Multipurpose Health Care Assistants (MPHA) posts for recruitment. However, there are between 6,500 and 7,000 such vacant posts that have to be notified and filled. This raises questions over the future of the remaining MPHA workers, who do not make it in the recruitment test.

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Currently, there are nearly 4,000 outsourcing and contract workers who are employed as MPHAs across Telangana. Many of them have already crossed their age limit to be eligible for the MPHA recruitment examination, which will be held on December 29.

Many of them have already reached retirement age but continue to depend on a monthly salary of less than Rs 10,000. “Our members started at a meager monthly salary of just Rs 4, 000 per month and have continued to work for 18 to 20 years. State governments have utilised their services during various crisis situations including the Covid pandemic. Now is the time to recognise their services and add more MPHA posts and do justice for those who have lost their eligibility to even appear for such recruitment tests,” says AITUC, State Deputy General Secretary, M Narasimha.

While many in-service MPHAs who are on outsourcing and contract basis are preparing the upcoming recruitment drive, what happens to such workers who do not qualify. “The State government must have a system in place for outsourcing and contract workers who do not make it in the entrance examination. Such workers, who have been honestly and quietly discharging their duties at the ground level, must be rewarded,” says Narasimha.