By Our Reporter
Shillong, Nov 20: The Meghalaya Accredited Social Health Activist Workers’ Union (MASHAWU) has resolved to positively respond to Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh by holding a discussion on their different demands.
“The Health Department has formally invited us to a meeting with the Health Minister on Wednesday, and the invitation from the DHS (MI) arrived today. We are going to the meeting with the hope that there will be some kind of assurance on our demands,” MASHAWU president Marajune Myrsing told The Shillong Times on Monday.
She added that the meeting will start at 11 am at the Health Minister’s chamber.
Myrsing stated that, contingent on the outcome of the meeting, they will determine whether to carry on with their indefinite protest. “We won’t be content if the meeting just consisted of a conversation. Nothing less than a guarantee from the minister is what we would require,” she remarked.
On Sunday, the Health Minister had invited the ASHA workers to come forward for talks.
“Dialogue is the sole means of resolving disagreements. I want to invite them to come out and talk about the issues,” Lyngdoh has stated.
The MASHAWU declared on Saturday that it will stage an indefinite sit-in at the Main Secretariat on November 27.
The ASHA workers’ ten-day indefinite strike has impacted healthcare in over 7,000 villages. They are asking for a rise in pay, from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per month.
Myrsing had stated that the organisation is adamant that they would not back down or give up until the government provides reassurance on the honorarium increase.
