1,200 outsourced staff at Kangra hospitals lose job
Lalit Mohan
Dharamsala, April 1
About 1,200 outsourced employees posted at various health institutions in Kangra district lost their jobs today. Of them, 720 were working at Tanda medical college here.
The authorities of these health institutions informed the employees this morning that the contract of the company that had hired them had not been extended, so they couldn’t join duty now.
Wrote letter to govt
I wrote a letter to the govt for the extension of services of the outsourced staff. Since no communication has been received from the govt, we did not allow outsourced employees to join duty today. Dr Bhanu Awasthi, Principal of Tanda Medical College
The sudden exit of 1,200 employees is likely to hamper the services at various health institutions in the region. It is likely to hit services at Covid-19 wards, patient care and sanitation at hospitals.
Among the 720 employees relieved from Tanda medical college, 267 were hired for tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. In all, 228 of them were staff nurses, 20 data entry operators, three lab technicians, seven QTAs, 161 ward attendants, 60 deployed for patient care services, four radio therapy technicians, eight Arogaya Mitras, 227 sanitation workers and two cook-cum-helpers.
At the Zonal Hospital, Dharamsala, more than 100 employees were outsourced. Remaining 400 such employees were serving at the Palampur Civil Hospital and other hospitals in the district.
Kangra Chief Medical Officer Dr Sushil Sharma said that the services of 463 employees, hired during the Covid-19 pandemic, ended.
Shivani Sharma, who worked as a nurse at Tanda medical college, said they had served patients in Covid wards during the peak of the pandemic, risking their lives. “At that time, the government had promised that our jobs would be regularised. It is unfortunate that after about three years, they have now been sacked,” she added. Doctors said that the sudden ouster of so many employees was likely to hit the services at various hospitals. At many places, the outsourced staff were handling the entire sanitation work, they added.
BJP spokesperson Sanjay Sharma said that the government was doing injustice to the outsourced staff who had served the health institutions during the pandemic. The BJP would oppose the government decision and launch an agitation over the issue, he said.
