Govt hospital staff refuse to be 'uniformed'

kolkata: wearing a uniform may be the new corporate mantra but buddha's bengal feels it is uncalled for, at least in hospitals. west bengal health minister surya kanta misra's proposal last week at a meeting that group d staff in government hospitals must wear uniforms has stirred a hornet's nest. most of the group d staff unions felt that doctors and nurses should first observe their responsibility and stop asking for undue favours from them.they should have had qualms before accusing us. we do almost the same duties as doctors and para-medics. doctors and pathologists make us carry out the pathological tests, said sukhendu patra, secretary of a worker's union at a north kolkata government hospital. doctors and house staff are equally vocal though as they welcomed the minister's decisions to crack down on the group d staff. go to any of the staff quarters and see how wealthy these employees are. most of them have hired people for minimum daily wages. understandably they do not wear any uniform as they find it beneath their dignity. they are involved in other businesses, too. they are rich people and no longer need sympathy, said the superintendent of a medical college. already, the group d staff in hospitals have uniforms and they get washing allowances, which they do not draw regularly. it is generally drawn once a year, mostly in a lumpsum amount and spent on buying fancy clothes, said a hospital accountant. it is more so in the case of women employees. men simply avoid working by employing contract labourers and people arriving fresh from the villages and neighbouring states on daily wages. the daily payments to labourers on contract range between rs 15 and rs 25, added an em-ployee of nrs medical college hospital. many group d staff have told me that they do not wear uniforms because if they are recognised they feel insulted, said a doctor at the school of tropical medicine. most of the group d employees do not even live in their quarters as they let them out on rent, which is an additional source of income for them, said a departmental head of medical college hospital. the group d staff blame the doctors for unethical dealings. in the pa-thology laboratory, no pathologist prepares slides of stool, saliva, urine or even blood. everything is delegated to us. though they try to keep our mouths shut by paying us, if the matter of ethics is raised, they do not have anything to fall back upon morally, said a group d employee of medical college hospital.