Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Services and Medical Education Department Employees' Central Association is now demanding for better facilities and opportunities at work. The association will be making a representation to the government in this regard.

The demands include creation of new posts in hospitals, filling up of vacancies in the government hospitals and health centres besides seeking promotions and increments. There are around 17,500 vacancies which need to be filled in the State Health and Family Welfare department.

The association which has 70,000 members from 157 cadres ranging from paramedics to clerical staff, also demanded timely salaries to be given to the primary health centre workers and other field staff like female health workers coming under Zilla Parishad.

It has also opposed to privatize the government hospitals and health centres and is seeking autonomous status. There is also a demand to train the existing staff in the latest technology.

"We have devised a strategy to augment the efficiency at the department and we are presenting this to the Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa at a state level health conference which will kick off on October 24 in Bangalore. Around 20,000 state government employees are participating at the event," said A Puttaswamy, president of the association.

The key objective of the memorandum is to bring to the notice of the state government the plight of the employees working to provide the health services across the state even in the remote villages which is a huge challenge.

There is an acute shortage of staff in most of the hospitals in the state. While the number of beds increases, there is no effort to increase the staff, said president, Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Services and Medical Education Department Employees Central Association.

In 2007, Bangalore ranked 2nd among the 593 districts in the country which has been equipped t provide healthcare facilities. Only 10 districts in Karnataka have below-100 ranking in terms of adequate health facilities.

The association has also opposed to the government's move to privatize and give autonomous status to the primary health centres and government hospitals. At present, 120 primary health centres in the state are privatized and some hospitals have become autonomous including Victoria Hospital, Bowring and Lady Curzon Hosptial and Government Medical College, Mysore. Recently, the state government issued autonomous status to McGann Hospital in Shimoga. The staff were shifted to the new district hospital in Shikaripur. In this case the government did not consult the authorities to ascertain the problems when they had to be transferred to the district hospital, he added.

The health department had initiated a scheme that would involve private medical colleges, voluntary organizations and charitable trusts in the management of primary health centres. This is the first effort to partly privatize rural health services with the aim of providing better health services. The government has already privatized non-clinical services at government hospitals.