Guntur contract medical staff stage protest demanding reinstatement 

GUNTUR: Members of the AP Medical Covid Warriors’ Association staged a protest demanding reinstatement, at the Collectorate here on Sunday. In order to provide better medical facilities to the people during Covid-19 pandemic, the government recruited staff nurses, anesthesia, lab technicians, MNOs and FNOs on a temporary basis for six months as frontline warriors. 

In January, the government relieved the medical staff from their services. Condemning the government’s move, the staff have been staging protests for the last one month. Murthy, a paramedic, said, “We extended services to the public during the pandemic risking ours as well as our family members’ lives. We demand that the government regularise our services.” 

Meanwhile, six members of the AP Medical Covid Warriors’ Association have been staging fast unto death. Jhansi, another paramedic, said there are many vacancies in teaching hospitals, district hospitals, CHCs and PHCs in the State. “The government should fill those vacancies by recruiting us,” she added.