*Regularise Health contract staff immediately: YSRCP*

Tadepalli, Oct 7: YSRCP Employees and Pensioners Wing State President Nalamaaru Chandrasekhar Reddy demanded immediate regularisation of eligible contract employees in the Health Department and payment of 100 per cent gross salary, including DA and HRA, until the process is completed.

Speaking at the YSRCP central office, he said nearly 14,600 contract employees, including staff nurses, lab technicians, pharmacists, radiographers, ECG and anaesthesia technicians, were facing uncertainty despite serving as the backbone of public healthcare. He said many of them worked round the clock during Covid, yet the coalition government had ignored their concerns for the past two-and-a-half years.

Chandrasekhar Reddy said employees had been protesting across the State for two months, but the government had failed to respond. He demanded that all eligible contract staff be regularised and, until then, be paid full gross salary with pay, DA and HRA under G.O.Rt.No.459. He warned that a strike by 14,600 health employees would seriously affect government medical services.

He said the previous Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government had decided to regularise around 10,117 contract employees, initiated legal measures for equal pay for equal work and enacted the Andhra Pradesh Regularisation of Services of Contract Employees Act, 2023.
Chandrasekhar Reddy also demanded immediate action on PRC, IR, DAs and pending employee dues. He said Anganwadis, ASHA workers, municipal workers, teachers, CHOs, field assistants, cooperative bank employees and other sections were already on the streets.

He demanded an end to repeated reappointments of retired officials, promotion opportunities for serving employees and fulfilment of employment promises, warning of a statewide agitation if the government continued to delay action.