Pharmacists join cleaners in district hospital stir

Noida: Housekeeping staff at the district hospital continued with their strike on Monday, despite being evicted from inside the hospital a day earlier.
The 36 members of the housekeeping staff were earlier sitting inside the hospital, demanding that they be paid their old salary of Rs 12,700.

This is the third time that housekeeping staff of the hospital have gone on a strike in four months. Protesters, who refrained from work for the whole of Saturday, continued their strike on Sunday when police were called by the hospital authorities. Pharmacists too have decided to go on a strike, demanding that the old pension system prior to 2004 be restored by the central government.

The pharmacists, who wore black bands to work on Monday, handed over a memorandum to the chief medical officer (CMO) and the district hospital authorities.

The president of the Gautam Budh Nagar Diploma Pharmacist Association (DPA), RN Barhela, said the reimbursement for the expense of treatment at private hospitals by the UP government has also been stopped.

The pharmacists have threatened to boycott work for the first two hours on December 6 and 7 and go on an indefinite strike from December 10 if there is no assurance from the government.

About the strike by the housekeeping staff, chief medical superintendent Ajai Agrawal said he had written to the Uttar Pradesh Health Systems Strengthening Project (UPHSSP), complaining about the agency that had recently got the contract for supplying the staff.

“Talks are on in Lucknow on the issue,” he said. A team from the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers was slated to come to the hospital but did not.