‘Salary cut, incentives not paid’: Nursing staff protest

TNN
Ludhiana: The nursing staff of Satguru Pratap Singh (SPS) Hospital, near Sherpur Chowk, staged a protest against “salary cut and non-payment of incentives”, among others, outside its premises on Sunday.
The protestors said for the past about a month, they were being put on duty in the Covid centre isolation ward. They were promised that in lieu of such duties, they would be given incentives. But despite working for 12 hours in PPE kits, they received nothing, they added.
The protestors said their salaries were cut and even as they worked regularly, it was shown that they took a 15-day leave.
“The hospital had promised us that our Covid tests will be done again after we tested positive. But even that promise was not met and we were made to join duty after nine days,” said a protestor. She added that their roster, which was prepared by their ward in-charge, was made by the HR department this time.
A nurse accused an HR official of misconduct.
An eyewitness said the stir started around 7.30am and continued till around 5.30pm. “In the morning, the protestors were agitating outside the hospital,” he added.
Police reached the spot and tried to pacify the protestors. Later, an ADCP spoke to them.
SPS Hospital medical superintendent Dr Rajiv Kundra said the matter has been sought out with the nursing staff.
HR official Manish could not be contacted as his phone was switched off.