Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR : The Voice of Unemployed Laboratory Technicians (VULT) on Friday announced that it will stage a peaceful protest on July 27 at the tennis court near IG Park here, demanding immediate recruitment to 192 sanctioned Medical Laboratory Technologist (MLT) posts through the Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board (APSSB) and scrapping of the laboratory services tender awarded to a private company.
Addressing a press conference at the Arunachal Press Club here, VULT chairman Tamchi Tago alleged that despite repeated memorandums submitted to the state government and the Department of Health and Family Welfare over the years, the organisation’s demands have remained unaddressed.
“We have been raising this issue for a long time, but our voice has gone unheard and our grievances have been ignored by the state government,” Tago said.
He said the proposed protest is aimed at pressing the government to address the long-pending demand for recruitment of laboratory technicians and to end outsourcing of laboratory services.
The organisation demanded immediate advertisement of the 192 sanctioned MLT posts through the APSSB, cancellation of the existing laboratory services tender system, discontinuation of outsourcing and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models in laboratory and blood bank services, and publication of a white paper on vacant technical posts under the Health Department.
Tago claimed that although the 192 posts have already been sanctioned and the recruitment rules are in place, the department has allegedly failed to initiate the recruitment process and is instead giving priority to outsourcing laboratory services.
Expressing concern over the shortage of technical manpower, he said the continued delay in recruitment is affecting laboratory services and compromising the delivery of quality healthcare across the state.
Questioning the delay, Tago asked why the APSSB has not issued an advertisement for the sanctioned posts despite the availability of approved recruitment rules.
On the issue of outsourcing, he alleged that the laboratory services tender has deprived eligible unemployed youths of Arunachal Pradesh of employment opportunities, claiming that private agencies are engaging technicians from outside the state. He further alleged that 14 laboratory technicians presently working at the Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (TRIHMS) are non-APST personnel deployed through a private company.
The organisation urged the state government, particularly the Department of Health and Family Welfare, to advertise all 192 vacant MLT posts through the APSSB without further delay and ensure a transparent and merit-based recruitment process. It also appealed to the government to recognise laboratory technologists as essential healthcare professionals and engage with unemployed health workers to build confidence and fairness in the recruitment system.
Earlier, the organization held a peaceful rally in Itanagar on June 15, 2026, expressing its demands.
