Nagaland Association of Community Health Officers (NACHO) has begun its 2nd phase of agitation in protest to the non-payment of salaries and Performance Based Incentives (PBI) to certain community health officers (CHO) affected by the 15th Finance Commission (FC).
The association with over 300 members is agitating in solidarity with its members who have not received their salaries since April 2022.
Moreover, the union alleged that the government has not given any formal clarification on why the payments have been withheld.
NACHO General Secretary, Chumrenthung N Ezung, told Nagaland Tribune that when the 15th FC was introduced, “105 fully functional Health and Wellness Centres (sub centres) were selected to be affected as the initial phase of implementation. So, the 105 CHOs of those centres stopped receiving their salaries and PBIs.”
As mere government employees under Nagaland Health Mission (NHM), we expect to receive our salaries from NHM, Ezung added.
NACHO had on 11 October 2022 started the 1st phase of agitation after the Department of Health and Family Welfare and the Nagaland Health Mission (NHM) failed to resolve the issues despite “repeated notices and ultimatum”.
In the first phase of agitation, all CHOs ceased all work under the slogan ‘NOPAY, NOWORK’, and wore a black badge to official duties.
In the 2nd phase announced on Monday, the total cease of work will continue and all affected CHOs will observe “Pen-Down” where all documentations will be halted.
Members of the Nagaland Association of Community Health Officers (NACHO). (Photo credit: NACHO)
When asked how the agitation will affect the people of Nagaland in the rural areas, Chumrenthung N Ezung stated: “CHOs play very important role in bridging the gap between the community (people) and the health care services. Simply put, any agitation from the CHOs will widen this gap.”
Community health officers have very broad set of roles being the midlevel health care provider. The responsibilities of a CHO include ambulatory care, conducting surveys and disease surveillance, organising outreach activities for public health promotion and prevention of diseases, maintaining records and submitting reports, looking after the inventory of the centres and many more.
NACHO has given time to the government till 1 November 2022, after which the association has warned of “further drastic” measures if the issue remains unsolved.
