Special Chief Secretary, Health, Medical and Family Welfare, M.T. Krishna Babu on Tuesday convened a meeting with all community health officers (CHOs), who have been protesting for a while demanding hike in pay, asking them to resume their work without creating further interruption of health services to rural people.
The CHOs have reportedly stopped providing tele-consultation services and conducting the water quality testing in rural areas as of now. The CHOs have reportedly communicated with the officials that they would stop their duties in a phased manner beginning November 20. They are planning to organise a mass dharna in Vijayawada on December 13.
Their demands include revision of salary structure, annual increment, 35 days’ leave in a year, regularisation of their services.
At present, all the CHOs are appointed on contract basis for one year period and services are being renewed subsequent years based on the performance assessment. They are given ₹25,000 per month salary and an incentive of ₹15,000 based on performance.
The government, in a circular on Monday, made it clear that if the CHOs did not resume their duties, their services would be terminated.
