Satkhira health assistants go on indefinite work stoppage to press home 6 demands
Protesters warned that the strike would deprive around 1.5 lakh children across the country of routine EPI vaccinations each day
Health assistants in Satkhira launched an indefinite, district-wide work stoppage this morning (4 October), pressing for six demands.
Organised by the Bangladesh Health Assistant Association's Satkhira unit, the work abstention began at 9am, with participants gathering at Satkhira Sadar Upazila Health Complex.
The six demands are: amendment of recruitment rules, addition of a bachelor's degree in science as a qualification, placement in the 14th grade, promotion to the 11th grade through in-service diploma training, recognition of technical rank, and continuous promotion to higher grades.
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Speakers at the programme included the association's Satkhira Sadar Upazila unit president, Mosharraf Hossain, along with health assistants Ramesh Saha, Abdur Rahim, Afzal Hossain, and Sharmin Nahar.
"We are victims of wage discrimination. Whenever a new government comes to power, we are given promises, but they are never implemented. Until our six demands are met, we will not return to work," they said.
They warned that the strike would deprive around 1.5 lakh children across the country of routine EPI vaccinations each day.
"We call on the government to accept our demands immediately. From 12 October, the typhoid vaccination campaign will also be suspended, which was scheduled to administer five crore doses nationwide," the speakers added.
