Hyderabad: 50% sanitation workers call it quits at Gandhi Hospital

Highlights:

♦    Maintenance and hygiene go for a toss at the hospital

♦    Officials turn deaf to problems faced by sanitation staff

♦    10% bonus announced by govt yet to be released

♦    No adequate transportation services provided

Hyderabad: Besides the shortage of doctors and paramedic staff, lack of adequate numbers sanitation workers has added to the woes of the Gandhi Hospital, the designated treatment centre for Covid patients.

It has resulted in ill-maintenance of cleanliness and hygiene in the hospital, causing much worry to the administration.

The reason: While the entire nation has been hailing Covid warriors and focusing on medical staff and their problems, the issues faced by sanitation workers went unheard.

This forced many of the sanitation workers at the Gandhi Hospital to leave their jobs in despair. Earlier, there were around 200 sanitation employees working in the Gandhi Hospital; now, only a 100 of them are working for more than their assigned hours.

Speaking to The Hans India, Krishnamma, a union leader of sanitation employees, said, "Everybody has been focusing on the issues faced by doctors during the pandemic.

There is no doubt that they are working very hard, but we, too, are facing a lot of troubles. We are forced to work for 15 hours without any break.

No one here is helping us, even the higher officials are ignoring our plight." She also flayed that the bonus of 10 per cent announced for sanitation workers by the government had not been given yet.

"There are many workers who stay far away and do not have adequate transportation. The bus drops them at a specific place, after which the workers have to walk a long way – sometimes during the night.

Each worker is paid Rs 8,500 which is not sufficient. Due to this, many workers are left with no other choice but to leave their jobs," adds Krishnaamma.

Radhika Devi, who worked at Gandhi Hospital for the past nine years, said, "Since all the COVID positive patients are sent here, all of us are at risk.

We have to wear the PPE kits for the entire shift. Since, many of the workers have left their jobs, it has become difficult for us to take care of the sanitation of all the blocks of the Gandhi Hospital."