A day after resident doctors from KEM Hospital highlighted the shortage of Class IV staff and nurses, their counterparts in Sion and Nair hospitals have narrated a similar plight.

Doctors said they have been reeling under the shortage for several weeks, and the issue was discussed with State Health Minister Rajesh Tope in a meeting held recently. Class IV staff consists of employees like ward boys, cleaners, labourers and ayahs. They are addressed as mama and mavashi in all hospitals.

On Wednesday, the civic-run BYL Nair Hospital, which has been converted into an exclusive COVID-19 facility, had merely 15 Class IV staff in its 40 wards. While the number was drastically low due to the cyclone warning, a doctor said that on other days, only one-third of the Class IV staff have been reporting to work, putting immense load on resident doctors.

“Due to the lack of Class IV staff, wards are not cleaned on time. Shifting patients for essential investigations, getting samples, X-rays, scans, is delayed because of lack of manpower,” said a resident doctor from Nair hospital.

The doctor said soiled diapers of patients are not changed for over four hours, leaving them at the risk of infection. “These patients are in the intensive care unit, where relatives can’t come to help,” he said. At Nair, the doctor said, the problem only pertains to Class IV staff. “We have no shortage of nursing staff,” he said.

A resident doctor from Sion hospital said they, too, had enough nurses, but Class IV staff numbers are severely low. “There is nearly a two-hour gap between shifts when no one is around. For example, the afternoon shift staff leaves by 1.45 p.m. to catch the 2.30 p.m. bus. But the staff for the next shift only arrives at 3.30 p.m.,” the resident pointed out.

While Class IV employees over the age of 55 and having co-morbidities are not reporting to work, many others have tested positive for COVID-19 or were in contact with other positive staff and are thus, off duty.

Pradeep Narkar of the Municipal Mazdoor Union wrote to the municipal commissioner, stressing that the staff shortage was not due to deliberate absenteeism, but these genuine reasons. “Nearly 40% Class IV posts are vacant,” the letter said.

Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is looking into the issue. “Many staff members live extremely far away, which makes it difficult for them to travel due to the lockdown,” he said. Mr. Kakani said they have been pushing for suburban rain services to be resumed for essential workers.

A 2014 study carried out on Class IV employees in a tertiary care teaching hospital showed that nearly 50% of the respondents lived more than 10 km away from their workplace.