Demanding the implementation of 7th Central pay, teaching and non-teaching staff of the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS), Porompat, Imphal East launched two-day mass casual leave cum sit-in protest in front of the medical superintendent, JNIMS office on Friday.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the protest, spokesperson of Teachers’ Association, JNIMS, Dr Y Sanatomba said that 7th Pay has already been implemented for most of the state government employees since April 2019. However, the teaching and non-teaching staff of JNIMS are still denied 7th Pay, he said.
The teaching and non-teaching staff of the hospital are utilised more than other hospitals. Employees of JNIMS are not only utilised in diagnosing normal patients but also COVID-19 patients as well. Due to lack of COVID care centres, the state government has opened three COVID-19 wards in JNIMS. However, the government said that the employees of JNIMS cannot get the benefits of 7th Pay as JNIMS is run under Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences Society, Imphal, Manipur, he stated.
The spokesperson further lamented that teaching and non-teaching staff of JNIMS are also given lower dearness allowance as compared to other state employees. He appealed to the state government to implement 7th Pay for the staff of the hospital.
If the government failed to give a positive response within two days, the staff could resort to cease work strike after adopting a resolution among the associations of teaching and non-teaching staff of JNIMS, warned Sanatomba.