Nagpur: The public health ministry has admitted that the file to regularise contractual staff working under Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTPC) disappeared from their office. However, Health Minister Dr Deepak Sawant informed a committee of commissioner that a National Health Mission (NHM) has been appointed on June 5, 2017, to consider how to regularise these contractual staffs and to accommodate in government jobs permanently.
The Free Press Journal revealed on August 16, 2017 about the file having disappeared from the office of public health minister. Kalidas Kolambkar, Congress member, raised the issue in the Assembly through a starred question and asked whether the proposal was pending with the department since the last three years. Kolambkar further asked if it was true that the file of the same proposal had disappeared?
In his written reply, minister Sawant replied that the proposal had been received by his department. “It is not possible to accommodate the contractual staff working under Tuberculosis Control Programme into government service. This decision was taken by the government and the file of this said decision is available with us,” Dr Sawant stated. He further said, “The proposal submitted by the Maharashtra Association of Gazetted Medical Officers (MAGMO) asking to regularise contractual staff working under RNTPC has disappeared and could not be find out.”
RNTCP is the state-run tuberculosis (TB) control initiative of the Government of India. As per the National Strategic Plan 2012-17, the programme has a vision of achieving a ‘TB free India’ and aims to achieve Universal Access to TB control services.
Maharashtra State Revised National Tuberculosis Control Employees Association approached the state government in 2014 and demanded that it regularise their service.
According to Sagar Kadam, leader of the association and working under BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation’s health department, the employees were appointed on contract during 2000 and 2001 across the state. “Earlier, there were around 1600 employee but later the state appointed another 500 employees and hence the number reached 2100,” said Kadam.
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