Around 200 nurses employed on outsourcing basis at Gandhi Hospital here boycotted work on Wednesday demanding that basic salary to be paid to them. The outsourced nurses, who were on COVID-19 duty in isolation wards, said that they have been working for the past 13 years and earn a monthly salary of ₹17,500.
Stating that they are putting their lives at risk to attend COVID patients and suspects, they submitted a letter to the hospital superintendent and nursing superintendent on Tuesday informing about the boycott.
“More than 200 of us did not attend duty on Wednesday. We are asking them to provide us basic salary which ranges from ₹25,000 to ₹35,000 per month,”said B. Meghamala, one of the nurses.
She, along with the other outsourced nurses including Ch. Lakshmi and B. Prameela, met senior officials of Health department who asked them to resume duty and assured to forward their request to Health Minister Eatala Rajender. They were, however, yet to take a call on ending the boycott.