Ward boys and housekeeping staff working on contract on COVID-19 duty in two prominent hospitals in the city — NIMHANS and Victoria Hospital — protested on Monday demanding adequate precautionary measures while on duty and better quarantine facilities after they complete duty.
A ward boy at Victoria hospital said that recently, six Group D employees who were on COVID-19 duty tested positive. “We do not get good quality PPE kits. We risk our lives and work in COVID-19 wards. But nobody thinks about our health. The least we are demanding is that we are given better quarantine facilities and precautionary measures,” he alleged. He also said that the workers were promised double salaries if they opt for COVID-19 duty, but were still continuing to get only their original salaries.
However, a statement from Bengaluru Medical College and Research Institute refuted their allegations and stated that they were being provided good quarantine facilities. “If they test positive after quarantine, they have been given admission in our hospital,” a statement from BMCRI said.
‘Differential treatment’
Meanwhile, the contract workers at NIMHANS who were on housekeeping duty alleged that they were given “differential treatment” compared to their counterparts who were on permanent rolls of the institute. “Contract workers who have tested positive are being sent home without being given option of institutional quarantine or quarantine in COVID Care Centres. NIMHANS itself is a designated COVID-19 hospital, but contract workers are not being given this option. Their homes are small and not conducive for quarantine,” a statement by the NIMHANS Pragatipara Workers’ Union said.
Following this, several workers assembled on the NIMHANS campus demanding proper hospitalisation, treatment, safety kits, PPEs, ₹50 lakh Corona Insurance, and a special one month pay for COVID-19 duties.
11th day of strike
Meanwhile, strike by ASHA workers entered 11th day on Monday. “The long-drawn demand of ₹12,000 as fixed honorarium and the sufficient supply of PPE kits has fallen on deaf ears. The State government has not even called the representatives of the ASHA workers union in Karnataka for a discussion,” said ASHA Workers’ Union of AIUTUC in a release.