Kozhikode hospital contract staff who lost jobs wave black flags at Kerala Health Min

Protesters outside Kozhikode Medical College Hospital (MCH) waved black flags at Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja on Friday. A few people, who were working as contract staff in Kozhikode MCH, were dismissed from their jobs as their contract period was over. Since then, for the last 102 days, they have been protesting outside the hospital demanding to reinstate them.

On Friday, they waited outside the hospital to give a petition to the minister when she came visiting there, regarding the matter. But since they could not meet the minister in person, they shouted slogans, tried to block the minister's vehicle and waved black flags. Following this, the police forcibly removed them.

Some of the women protesters stood in front of the minister's escort vehicle blocking her for some time. The protesters allege that some of the contract staff got their dismissal orders while they were on quarantine after COVID-19 duty. They said that they worked day and night during the time of COVID-19.

Some of them claim that they have been working in the hospital for more than 10 years. They also allege that some new staff, who are recommended by certain unions, were appointed by the hospital. They allege that the hospital administration made new appointments favouring some persons and they were not done legally. Most of the protesters were cleaning staff.

Earlier in 2019, when some of the temporary staff who worked during the outbreak of Nipah virus in Kozhikode, were dismissed from the MCH, there was a huge protest. Forty-two temporary workers were deployed between May 19 and May 31, 2018, when the regular staff refused to take up duty in isolation wards during the Nipah outbreak. The protesters said that the government had promised to regularise their jobs when they were appointed on contract. Later, some of them were offered jobs on daily wage basis.