Lucknow: Staff hired for Covid management face uncertainty

LUCKNOW: Over 200 corona warriors, who were hired under the National Health Mission (NHM) through outsourcing and posted at the Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences (RMLIMS) during the Covid-19 pandemic, are facing an uncertain future.
The validity of their contracts has expired this month and their service is being discontinued as the pandemic has ebbed.
The outsourced employees are holding protests for the last few days to demand re-employment citing vacant posts.
Shubham Sharma, one of the outsourced ICU technicians, said: “RMLIMS is conducting recruitment on vacant posts and at the same time discontinuing our services. We understand the duties and system here, RMLIMS can consider our candidature for vacant posts.”
Chief medical superintendent, RMLIMS, Prof Rajan Bhatnagar said, “The hiring of these employees was done by the CMO office and it is the only authority to take any decision on the issue. The NHM letter also mentions withdrawal of services from March 3 but we gave them time till March 31.”
The State Outsourced Employees’ Union (SOEU) said the issue of employment would not only affect the outsourced employees of RMLIMS but also around 9,000 employees who were engaged by different government and government-aided health centres across the state, including 1,500 in Lucknow.
SOEU general secretary Sachidanand Mishra said, “Around 1,500 people were hired under NHM through outsourcing agencies by the Lucknow CMO office in 2020 as lab technicians, ICU technicians, lab attendants and sanitary workers, among others.”
“These employees played a crucial role in pandemic management. They must be rewarded and not unjustly asked to go. The union is planning to start an agitation and ask the government to consider the issue sympathetically,” he added.
On the issue of RMLIMS, CMO Dr Manoj Agarwal said, “The termination letter was signed by the institute’s authorities and it is for them to take a call on the issue.”
“The contract of these employees clearly specified that hiring was for pandemic and the budget was released for that period only. The financial year is closing and nothing can be done as of now. We will see if something can be done in the next financial year when the new budget is allocated,” he added.