Patients have been greatly affected due to the ongoing strike of health workers at the Jajarkot District Hospital.

The hospital staff have shut all hospital services, except for emergency cases, for the past two weeks, demanding salaries due for seven months.   

They staged a sit-in outside the District Administration Office at Khalanga Bazaar on Tuesday to press their concern.

Dr Rajendra Lama, the hospital’s acting medical superintendent, said they were compelled to strike because the Bheri Municipal Office paid no heed to their repeated calls for paying the outstanding wages of the hospital workers.

“How can we continue our work when we are not paid for seven months straight?” he said.

The agitating hospital workers threatened to shut down the services completely if they are not paid in full at the earliest.

They also submitted a memorandum of demand to the Ministry of Social Development of Karnali Province and the Federal Ministry of Health and Population through Chief District Officer Lalit Kumar Basnet.

The District Hospital has 57 staff. Besides the hospital staff, Bheri Municipal Office has also failed to pay the wages of 60 other health workers posted at various government-owned medical facilities in Barekot Rural Municipality.

Dambar Bahadur Bista, the account officer at the municipal office, claimed that the delay in salary payment was caused because the Ministry of Finance had not allocated the funds.