KOCHI: The lockdown due to Covid-19 has hit the hospitals hard, so much so that many hospitals have asked its staff – the nurses, doctors, technicians and other staff – to take a big salary cut for the coming months. While many hospitals have enforced the salary cuts from March, others are likely to enforce wage cut from April. “We have been working from morning to late into the night.

But, suddenly when a crisis comes, it’s unfair to ask us to take a huge salary cut. Whatever the private sector hospitals are now, it’s due to the sweat and blood of the doctors and nurses,” said a doctor, who wished not to be identified. Dr MI Sahadulla, CMD of KIMS Healthcare and president of the Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI), pointed out that the private sector hospitals are doing just 20-25 per cent of its business now, following the lockdown.

“The small and medium hospitals are on the verge of closure. No patients are coming to the hospital unless it is really an emergency. So, our priority is to save jobs,” he said, adding that in Thrissur and nearby areas, which reported the first Covid case back in February, the hospitals are running empty for the third month in a row now. “In Thiruvananthapuram, from the middle of March to April are going to be worse,” Sahadulla said. “Our view is that those in frontline -- nurses, doctors and technicians -- should not be touched while the administrators, CEO, CFO level should go for a salary cut,” he said.

Dr P K Mohammed Rasheed, founding president of Kerala Private Hospitals Association (KPHA), which has about 740 hospitals in the state under its umbrella, said the occupancy rate at private hospitals is even lower at 15-20 per cent. “The staff work less. There is no income and one-third of the staff doesn’t even come to hospitals. So, what we have done is to give the salary for the work done. The remaining salaries will be distributed once the situation gets back to normal,” he said.

According to him, there are three types of doctors: junior doctors, who are given salaries; then the doctors who work on a salary-cum-incentive basis and the third type who comes on a freelance basis and earns for the work they do. “The third type of doctors are no longer available, while the second category gets lower pay due to the lesser number of patients.

There has been a slight adjustment in the salaries for the junior doctors,” Dr Rasheed said. He also wanted the government to come to the aid of the private healthcare sector by loans at concessional rates to tide over the current liquidity crunch. An administrative officer at a private Church-run hospital said the maintenance cost has shot up for elective surgeries (surgeries scheduled in advance) as the doctors, nurses and other staff have to be provided with PPE kits. “So, we are literally bleeding and we have only asked the staff to take pay cuts. We have not sacked anyone. And, we hope to return the remaining amount of the salaries by September, when the situation returns to normal, hopefully,” she said.