Maternal and Newborn Child Health project: Contractual employees seek permanent jobs

Contractual employees of the National Maternal and Newborn Child Heath (MNCH) Programme on Friday called for regularising their services before the expiry of their contracts by 2015. Speaking at a press conference here at the local press club, President of employees of MNCH Programme Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Ikramullah Khan sa id that they were not satisfied about their job security despite the extension of the project.
He said that as many as 587 employees, including lady health volunteers (LHVs) and lady health workers (LHWs), had been inducted to serve the project in 2006. The government, he said, had terminated the services of employees after completion of the project in June this year. However, he said that the programme had been extended for six more months following protests and registration of a court case. Flanked by vice-president Bahadur Sher and General Secretary Ibne Amin, he said that the court had decided in their favour, extending the programme till 2015.
Stressing the need for making their jobs permanent, he said: "Our services are still insecure despite the programme's extension for three more years." Ikramullath said provincial health authorities had informed the court that services of contractual employees could not be regularised in the wake of the project's extension. According to him, the court had been assured that the services of workers in the project would be regularised after the completion of the new contract. Despite the officials' assurance, he said that the court had asked the provincial government to remove employees' concerns by providing full job security and consider giving them permanent jobs after the completion of their new contracts.