Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) senior leader and former health minister T Harish Rao on Thursday, May 30, alleged that the Telangana government didn’t pay salaries of the contract and outsourcing employees working under the National Health Mission (NHM) for 3 months.
“17,541 people working in 78 departments like Urban Primary Health Centres, Basic Health Centres, Basti Davakhanas, Telangana Diagnostics etc. are facing severe difficulties due to non-payment of salaries. The non-payment of salaries to the medical staff who are constantly working to protect the health of the people for months is a reflection of the negligence of the state government towards public health. This is another proof that the words of the Congress government, which boasts of paying salaries on the 1st of every month, are empty. On behalf of the NHM employees, I demand the government to immediately pay the PRC dues along with the pending salary of 3 months,” he said in a post on X.
Harish Rao recently also alleged that under the Congress government, Telangana diagnostic hubs are on the verge of closure.
He said that the diagnostic hubs set up by the previous BRS government to provide free diagnostic services to people have collapsed.
He said it was unfortunate that the system created by the previous government was destroyed by the Congress government in just five months.
The former minister said then chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had set up 36 diagnostic centres across the state. He mentioned that 134 types of diagnostic tests were available to people free of cost at these centres.
Harish Rao said diagnostic hubs ensured that there is no financial burden on poor and common people to access quality medical tests but now they are struggling to survive.
The BRS leader claimed that the staff of these centres have not received salaries for six months. This is proof of the neglect of public health by the Congress government, he said.
He demanded that the government pay salaries to doctors and other staff members serving at the diagnostic centres and take steps to ensure that these centres provide all diagnostic facilities to people
In 2021, the state government launched Telangana diagnostics hubs to provide quality diagnostic and imaging services free of cost to the public.
The hubs began their operations with pathological services and this was subsequently expanded to the imaging services.
Diagnostic services such as X-ray, ECG, MRI, ultrasound and CT scan were available at the hubs opened one each in district headquarters.
