Contractual healthcare workers deployed at railway stations, bus stands and airport in Ranchi to conduct Covid tests of incoming have threatened to go on strike as a mark of protest against the non-payment of salary for two months in a move that could cripple the government’s Covid screening mechanism to prevent the spread of infections.

Ranchi civil surgeon Dr Vinod Kumar on Tuesday said that he had requested these healthcare workers to continue providing their services for at least a couple of more days, assuring them that he would ensure the disbursement of their pending salaries as soon as possible.

“I have requested healthcare workers on Covid testing duty to be patient for a few more days. I have spoken to authorities in the National Health Mission (NHM), and I am trying my level best to ensure payment of salary in the next couple of days,” said Kumar, adding that some changes in the bank accounts through which NHM disbursed salaries was the reason behind the delay.

Currently, about 700 contractual workers are deployed across Ranchi district to conduct Rapid Antigen Tests and RT PCR tests at railway stations, bus stands, the Birsa Munda Airport and other strategic locations in the state capital.

“We are risking our lives by coming in contact with several thousand passengers daily while testing them, and the government is least bothered about our needs,” said a Covid testing staffer deployed at Ranchi Railway Station. “If we do not get our salary soon, then we all will go on strike,” he added.

Several thousand contractual workers under NHM have already been on strike since October 10 demanding reinstatement of a terminated employee and implementation of an HR policy. The striking healthcare workers have claimed that the NHM did not pay salaries on time to many of them despite having funds.

“Our strike will continue, and more people will join us in the days to come. This will not end anytime soon,” said a striking healthcare worker.

As per government data, the active caseload of Covid-19 in Jharkhand was 195 on Tuesday morning, and more than half of these cases were in Ranchi, the district which has reported the highest number of cases and fatalities in the state.

While more than 100 patients tested positive for Covid-19 in rapid tests conducted at Hatia and Ranchi railway stations in the past week, a majority of them tested negative in confirmatory RT PCR tests conducted later, the civil surgeon said on Tuesday, claiming that the rise in cases was not as alarming as it had seemed initially going by tests at railway stations.

However, Ranchi’s efforts to keep a check on Covid cases will suffer if the staff deployed for Covid testing go off-duty, Kumar admitted. He said that he had also sought funds from the district administration to pay contractual healthcare workers in Ranchi.