Thousands of Odisha's healthcare workers say no to Covid-19 vaccine, here's why

MPW workers demand promotion and cadre-restructuring.

Published on: Jan 15, 2021, 21:54:32 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty, Bhubaneswar

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Ahead of the countrywide Covid-19 vaccination drive, about 15,000 multipurpose health workers have said they will not take Covid-19 vaccine in protest against state government's callousness in cadre restructuring and designation change.

Odisha health workers who under the banner of Odisha State Male and Female Multipurpose Health Workers'/Health Supervisors’ United Association. (HT Photo)

The health workers, under the banner of Odisha State Male and Female Multipurpose Health Workers'/Health Supervisors’ United Association, started wearing black badges on Friday as a symbolic protest and refused to take the vaccination if their demands are not met.

The Multipurpose Health Workers (Male and Female) work in preventive and promotive healthcare sector starting at village sub-health centres for control of communicable diseases, including Malaria, TB, Leprosy, waterborne diseases, as well as environmental sanitation.

“Our members have played a significant role in village and primary health centre (PHC) level during the Covid-19 pandemic. We have motivated people to go for testing and have created awareness among people about the disease. Our members collected swabs from people during Covid. But we did not get our dues from the government,” said Rabindranath Pradhan, general secretary of State Multipurpose Health Workers (Male) Association.

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Pradhan said many MPW workers do not even get a single promotion despite working hard throughout their lives and that's why cadre-restructuring was needed. "However, we would assist the government in vaccination drive from January 16," he said.

Mamata Nayak of the association said the government should decide quickly on the designation of the workers as many of them are treated poorly despite having professional degrees. "For a long time we have been demanding to be designated as Upakendra Janaswasthya Aadhikari which would be acceptable at the community level and the health workers would be more inspired," said Nayak.

Odisha would administer Covid-19 vaccine shots to about 1.92 lakh healthcare workers during the first phase of the nationwide vaccination programme. The state has already received 4.08 lakh Covishield and 20,000 Covaxin doses for the first phase of vaccination to be held across 160 session sites across. Dr BK Panigrahi, state nodal officer for Covid-19 vaccination said all the 160 session sites have been duly provisioned with at least three rooms each for vaccination, waiting, and observation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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