NUHM nurses, doctors protest over pending salaries in Chennai

Chennai: Around 200 medical workers, including nurses and doctors, gathered outside the Ripon Building on Thursday, demanding that their salaries be paid for this month.

Employed under National Urban Health Mission and posted at primary health centres run by Greater Chennai Corporation, many protesters said they had not received full pay. One nurse received only ₹22. Another got ₹6,000 of her ₹18,000 monthly wage. “It is already difficult to run a household on ₹18,000. Getting just ₹6,000 makes it impossible,” she said.

Health officer Dr M Jagadeesan said the shortfall stemmed from a new mobile application that ties attendance records — logged between 8am and 4pm — directly to salary disbursement. He said the issue would be resolved within three days.

The workers rejected that explanation. “We know that marking attendance is the norm in both private and govt firms,” said a doctor at one of the centres, Julius. “But, despite doing that, some of us have not received full salaries.”

Some of them said contractual workers were not treated on a par with permanent staff. Protesters also raised concerns about working conditions. “During the Covid-19 pandemic, I was assigned ambulance duty. I had an abortion in my fourth month. I continued working. Even during that period, we did not receive our increments,” said a staff nurse.

People who gathered around 8am were asked to disperse by 3pm. Later, GCC commissioner Dr G S Sameeran said he had directed the city health officer to release salaries based on physical attendance for this month. “Next month onwards, we will reconcile biometric and physical attendance for any discrepancies before disbursing salaries,” Sameeran said.