The one-hour strike staged by the entire staff including doctors at Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), the largest cancer treatment center in the state, should not be seen as an ordinary protest. A strike like this should never happen in an organization like RCC. The government should also try not to create such a situation.

It was not a sudden provocation that led the entire employees to such a token strike. The token strike staged the other day was due to the non-acceptance of some of their demands despite constant demands for six years. The functioning of the RCC should not be interrupted even for a moment, where many patients are being treated. The employees had taken special care to ensure that essential services are provided to patients who need them without interruption even during the hour of the strike.

Since 2016, the authorities have taken a negative approach to their demands related to service conditions, which has led the employee organizations to strike. There are many issues that need to be resolved from irregularities in salary revision to pension scheme. Lack of staff is a major limitation given the volume of patients. This shortage affects the patients. The number of people coming for consultations at the RCC is increasing day by day. Even sick patients have to wait for hours to see the doctor. The shortage of staffs is evident everywhere. The fact that the facilities do not increase with the rush is causing great hardship to everyone. Lack of physical facilities and the lack of staff will naturally reflect in the approach to patients, treatment and care. Its impacts often come out in the form of protest.

Those who work in centers like RCC, which have to ensure the comfort, care and service of the patients at an excessive level, need to have better service and wage conditions than those of other hospitals. It is because this is a field that requires so much dedication and willingness to serve. When the authorities do not listen to the demands raised by the employees organizations even after six years, naturally it may affect their attitude. The organizations have warned that they will have to adopt more severe strikes if the strike does not work. One cannot imagine what kind of harm such a situation would bring to a treatment center like RCC.

Any kind of negative attitude from the staff will end up in the helpless patients living in pain and worry. Therefore, high-level interventions are necessary to solve the problem as early as possible. The government should be ready to discuss the long-standing demands of the doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff. Acceptable demands must be accepted. The faults in the implementation of the seventh pay commission report should be resolved and the demands for payment of salary arrears and allowances, can be adhered to. The organizations have not voiced any demands beyond what could be agreed upon in the conciliation talks. The government should be ready for any compromise to make the RCC strike free.