Rehab centre staff on strike in Punjab, addicts hassled
Want job regularisation, equal pay for equal work, increase in DA
PATIALA/BATHINDA/LUDHIANA: Employees of the de-addiction, rehabilitation, and OOAT (outpatient opioid-assisted treatment) clinics stopped services across Punjab on Monday over their pending demands. Addicts were in a state of panic after their treatment was halted and they remained unattended.
Employees, under the banner of Drug De-addiction and Rehabilitation Centres’ Employee Union, went on a strike demanding job regularisation, implementation of equal pay for equal work, hike in dearness allowance (DA) and release of pending loyalty bonus.
According to the union, there are 650 contractual and outsourced employees in all 208 de-addiction and rehabilitation centres, model de-addiction centres and OOAT clinic in state.
Parminder Singh, state president of the union said they are working on meagre salaries. The contractual employees are receiving Rs 15,000 per month and the outsourced ones get just Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 per month.
WILL CONSIDER DEMANDS: SIDHU
Later in the late evening, the union members postponed the strike after state health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu assured them of considering their demands and discussing them with chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh.
The union president said that the health minister received their memorandum after which they have postponed the protest and will resume services from Tuesday.
’HOW WILL WE GET OUR TREATMENT’
A 29-year-old youth of Gian Colony in Patiala, is worried as he was not attended to at the OOAT Clinic in Saket Hospital. He waited for three hours to take dose of buprenorphine-naloxone.
He said, “I was addicted to smack for a long time and have been receiving treatment from 18 months. But on Monday, the staff did not provide medication. I don’t know what will happen to me. I don’t want to relapse.”
Another 30-year-old of Hera Nagar said, “Employees of OOAT clinic are not attending to us.”
Patiala deputy medical commissioner Dr MS Dhaliwal said, “The staff was on strike across state. However, we handled the situation well. We witnessed problem at just two centres in Patiala.”Addicts queued up outside the de-addiction centre of Bathinda civil hospital raised slogans alleging they were not getting medicines due to the strike.
In Ludhiana too, a long queue was witnessed outside the OOAT clinic. Manjit Kaur, 55, said her bed-ridden husband had been under treatment for nearly a year. “I am here to take medicine for him. I have been sitting under the scorching sun since morning. I hope the strike will be over soon, so that I can take the medicine.”