Nurses, however, claimed close to 50 staffers were fired. (Representational)
Several members of the nursing staff at a Covid hospital in Faridabad have alleged their employment was illegally terminated in April for demanding they be given life insurance before attending to Covid patients.
Friction between Al Falah Hospital and staff emerged shortly after the institute became a Covid hospital. While the terminated staff members claim they were wrongly removed, hospital officials said they were fired for “refusing to work”.
“When some of our staff was asked to do Covid duty, they refused. We then appointed their duties in other wards but they simply refused to work. We had to remove 10-15 people and hire new nursing staff so that patients did not suffer,” said Jawad Ahmad Siddiqui, chairman of Al Falah Charitable Trust, which runs the hospital. Officials said the hospital has 30 Covid persons in the isolation ward.
Nurses, however, claimed close to 50 staffers were fired. One of them, who hails from Rajasthan and did not want to be named, said, “I had been working there for three years, at the same salary of Rs 10,000. We would ask for a hike every year but they would deflect our demands. When the hospital became a Covid facility, we asked officials to at least give us life insurance, so our families would be looked after in case we caught the infection and died, but they refused.”
Nurses said an argument with the management broke out on April 5. On April 15, they received notices alleging they had been “wilfully absenting” themselves from duties since April 6. Informing them that their services were being terminated, the notice added they would not be entitled to the “one-month salary in lieu of notice period”. On April 18, another notice was issued to staff members asking them to “vacate the university’s accommodation” within 24 hours, failing which they would have to pay a “penal rent” of Rs 500 a day.
They have now written to the Police Commissioner seeking intervention. DCP (NIT) could not be contacted for a comment, while the Faridabad Police chief denied receiving any complaint. Deputy Commissioner Yashpal Yadav did not respond to multiple calls and messages seeking comment.