MUMBAI, Sept. 4 -- Two weeks of the strike by contractual staff under the National Health Mission (NHM) have severely disrupted public health services in Mumbai and across the state of Maharashtra. Around 1,250 NHM employees posted within municipal corporation limits and another 300 at the state Arogya Bhavan, including staff from the finance department, have joined the agitation. These 300 were already sitting in protest at Azad Maidan from August 19 before the Maratha quota protest began, and will resume their demonstration tomorrow. Together, this makes up over 60% of the total 2,400 NHM employees in Mumbai. The shutdown has crippled routine immunisation drives, dialysis, haematology services, including haemophilia treatment, tuberculosis (TB) care, maternal and child health units, and nutrition rehabilitation centres. Union leaders claimed nearly 95% of essential services have been paralysed, leaving patients dependent on dialysis and haemophilia treatment among the worst affected. "All important services such as immunisation, TB drives, polio vaccinations, maternity help and many more have been stopped. This is essential to a city like Mumbai. The haemophilia patients are also not receiving treatment from us right now. We are not returning to the office until our demands are met," said Vijay Gaikwad, president of the NHM integration committee. Despite the scale of the disruption, employees said, the state government has not yet held a meeting with them. The protest, which began on August 19, is part of a larger agitation involving over 39,500 NHM employees across Maharashtra, including 14,000 whose cases of regularisation are still pending. In their 18-point charter of demands, the primary one is for the implementation of a government resolution (GR), issued on March 14, 2024, which mandates the absorption of contractual NHM staff into regular service. They are also demanding a 15% hike in honorarium, release of pending salaries since July, payment of loyalty bonuses, employee provident fund and health insurance coverage, gratuity, and a transparent transfer policy. "The regularisation has been pending for many years. The employees have over 10 years of experience and are still waiting. Even though the GR was out, why did it take the government so long to implement it?" asked Gaikwad. "They are changing the recruitment rules now, while there are more than 5,900 nurses who can be immediately regularised." Salaries, employees pointed out, are often paid only once every two months, making household expenses difficult to manage. "Our salaries are irregular and delayed; we survive on loans and personal borrowings," one of the members of the organisation said, requesting anonymity. On August 22, the committee met with officials of the state health department, where officials assured them that recruitment rules had been amended and proposals had been sent for approval, but as it is a long process, it would take time. Employees, however, stressed that this will not solve the issue of regularisation as it is tied to a different GR. Until that is implemented, thousands of NHM staff will remain on insecure contracts. Employees have also alleged that they have faced threats of action from the NHM in Maharashtra. "They have time to take action against us, but will not even hold a meeting to understand our demands," added Gaikwad. NHM Maharashtra head Kadambari Balkawade did not respond to calls or messages from HT. In the coming days, over 300 staff involved in administrative work at Arogya Bhavan will also sit on strike at Azad Maidan, joining their colleagues. Elsewhere across the state, NHM employees are staging sit-ins outside zilla parishads, paralysing rural health delivery systems. A senior BMC health official clarified that the strike has not affected their work, as the employees involved fall under the state's NHM wings and the central government for essential health services....