Causing discomfort to patients due to disruption in services, outsourced employees at Hamidia Hospital once again protested on Saturday to press for the disbursement of wage arrears and a rollback of hospital plans to lay off employees.
Although hospital authorities are yet to confirm or deny the number of employees they are planning to lay off, employees say the hospital has decided to remove 400 workers from the muster rolls.
Not new at the college hospital, the current controversy first erupted in October last year when workers, including ward boys, technicians, and others, claimed that the hospital owed them months of wages.
The workers' strike was called off after the management pacified employees with promises of clearing their dues and topping them up with a bonus ahead of Diwali.
Workers now blame the hospital authorities and a private company contracted for sourcing employees for the health facility for reneging on their promises and attempting to quell protests by launching the layoff plan.
They say that nearly 50 employees have already been pink-slipped by the hospital administration, which, in turn, maintains that it can no longer bear the burden of expenses that it has been saddled with due to overstaffing during the Covid pandemic.
Meanwhile, patients and caregivers had a harrowing time at the hospital on Saturday, as they were left with no choice but to take charge and wheel their patients around various wards at the government-run hospital.