JAMMU, Nov 8: National Health Mission (NHM) employees in Jammu and Kashmir have been left without their salaries on Diwali, prompting the NHM Employees Association to seek urgent intervention from the Health Minister and senior government officials.
Dr Nazir Hussain, Medical Officer and General Secretary of the NHM Employees Association (Regd), J&K UT, expressed concern over the repeated delays in salary disbursement, saying employees were once again facing financial difficulties during an important festival.
He said delayed salaries had become a recurring problem despite NHM employees continuing to provide healthcare services across Jammu and Kashmir.
“Employees who work throughout the year to strengthen the public healthcare system should not have to spend festivals waiting for their salaries. These are wages earned through their hard work, not a favour from the government,” Dr Nazir said.
Rohit Seth, President of the NHM Employees Association, J&K UT, also raised concern over the issue, saying that employees should not be made to bear financial hardship despite their contribution to the healthcare system.
“NHM employees have been serving people across Jammu and Kashmir with dedication, but timely payment of salaries remains a persistent concern. They have families to support, children’s education to look after and household expenses to meet. We urge the government to ensure the immediate release of pending salaries and put in place a mechanism to prevent such delays in the future,” Seth said.
Dr Nazir said the delay in salary payments affected employees’ ability to meet household expenses, educational costs and other financial commitments. He appealed to the Health Minister, the Financial Commissioner/Additional Chief Secretary of the Health and Medical Education Department, Mission Director NHM J&K and other concerned authorities to intervene and ensure the immediate release of pending salaries.
He also called for a transparent mechanism to ensure that salaries are credited within the stipulated time every month, so that employees are not left uncertain about their payments.
“NHM employees are seeking timely payment of their legitimate wages, dignity at the workplace and financial security for their families. Repeated assurances will not resolve the problem unless concrete steps are taken,” Dr Nazir added.
The association said thousands of contractual healthcare workers form an important part of the public healthcare delivery system in Jammu and Kashmir and urged the government to address their concerns on priority.