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Chandigarh: Contractual health workers protest non-renewal of contracts
Employees raised slogans against Chandigarh administration at GMSH-16 and then conducted a march till Matka Chowk
The outsourced health workers, whose services were discontinued by the UT health department citing unavailability of funds, on Saturday protested at Matka Chowk and demanded renewal of their contracts.
The UT health department had outsourced as many as 351 healthcare workers, including nurses, sweepers, data entry operators, security guards and others, to handle the Covid outbreak.
As per the health department, the contracts of staff will not be renewed. In the first phase, the services of the staff of PU International Hostel (converted into Covid care centre) will be discontinued. In the next phase, services of 20% more staff will be terminated. If need arises, the situation will be assessed every 15 days and decisions will be made accordingly.
Meanwhile on Saturday, the employees raised slogans against the UT administration at Government Multi-Speciality Hospital in Sector 16 and then conducted a march till Matka Chowk.
“The staff was hired during an emergency situation. Each and every healthcare worker has worked around the clock to provide medical services during the Covid-19 surge, especially during the peak of the second wave in May this year. Now, the UT health department is terminating our services. The Covid warriors must be respected and their contacts should be renewed,” said one of the protesters.
UT health secretary Yashpal Garg said, “During the Covid crisis, the healthcare workers were outsourced for three or six months. The department is facing financial issues and we cannot pay salaries to employees. Also, we do not have any vacant posts available for regularising their jobs. Since the employees were told in advance about their temporary hiring, there is no point in protesting. We will outsource them again, if need arises.”
In a letter to director, health services, and medical superintendent of GMSH-16, Garg said, “I came to know that some outsourced staff has been recently hired during the last week of September for the same categories to which these 81 persons relate. Please provide the details of such outsourced staff which have been hired in the second half of September and the reasons as to why some of the persons of these 81 could not be adjusted against that requirement.”
