OFFICERS and employees of Autonomous Medical Colleges across Madhya Pradesh, under the banner of Lok Swasthya evam Chikitsa Shiksha Sangh, staged a two-hour symbolic sitin demonstration outside the Dean's Office at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, on Wednesday. The protest marked the first phase of a broader statewide agitation organised to press for long-pending promotions, gratuity benefits and administrative reforms under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. State President Virendra Tiwari highlighted that despite official orders previously issued by the Government, promotions remain stalled. “We have urged authorities to sympathetically execute promotions for employees who have completed 5 to 10 years of service, thereby providing relief to personnel serving in dying cadre posts.” Furthermore, the employees demanded the immediate extension of gratuity benefits to autonomous staff upon retirement or in the event of an employee’s death. The Association office-bearers submitted a charter of institutional grievances to the Dean, with a major focus on the administration of Ayushman Bharat scheme and workplace allocation.

 

They demanded for implementation of a strict two-year rotation period for Nodal Officers alongside Supervisors, as mandated by Ayushman Bharat Executive Committee, with the rotation tenure explicitly stated in official appointment orders and immediate release of outstanding honorariums to current and former Ayushman Supervisors, Nodal Officers, and Ayushman Mitras for their service periods. The protesting employees also demanded to release pending Ayushman Bharat incentive payments to all eligible employees prior to August 15 and reassignment of paramedical staff currently handling clerical duties or studying in departmental BMLT programmes to critical care units, specifically the Central Laboratory and Blood Bank, to alleviate acute operational shortages. Tiwari warned that failure by the administration and the State Government to address these concerns will force the union to escalate its protest action according to the planned schedule including gherao of Dean office on August 14, three-day relay hunger strike undertaken by two designated union members daily from August 18 to 20, and indefinite hunger strike from September 07. The protest was attended by Ajay Dubey, Raju Maske, Vijay Tiwari, Ramkumar, Ghanshyam Patel, Santram, Dilip Srivastava, Hemant Pandey, Priyanka Mehta, Varsha Vishwakarma, Sardar Singh, Parisa Singh Thakur and others.