Patients feel the pinch as ART staff protest

MYSORE: This 40-year-old man came all the way from Hunsur, some 60 km from Mysore, to the Krishna Rajendra (KR) Hospital on Monday, but had to return home without conducting a test at the antiretroviral therapy (ART) centre.
For, he was asked by the staff there to come after two days.
Like him, dozens of people, including patients visiting the centre, got similar reply as workers of ART centre and ICTCs (integrated counseling and testing centre) are on an indefinite strike which will enter the sixth day on Tuesday.
The employees on contract are demanding regularization of jobs and facilities like medical assistance, dearness allowance and provident fund.
On an average, the centre at the government-run hospital caters to nearly 70-100 people and ICTCs were facilitating hundreds of people. But since five days, the services have been hit causing inconvenience to patients.
An ICTC worker, who is protesting in Bangalore, claimed over 14,000 HIV patients have registered for treatment in Mysore and on average, over 6,000 people are being counselled every month in the district. He claimed all the staff, including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, counsellors, community care coordinators, technicians and data operators are working on contract since several years without any facilities or hike in salary.
"We are demanding salary revision once in two years and regularization of jobs of those who have been serving since a decade. At present, we are working for Rs 8,000-12,000 remuneration every month," he said.
District Aids Control officer Dr T Raghukumar, who admitted that the service has been affected following the protest, told TOI alternate arrangements have been made to provide medicines to people visiting the centre. But no tests like blood, urine and functioning of kidney or liver are conducted since %five days.
"To carry out testing qualified personnel are required. We hope the issue may be redressed by the government by Tuesday or else we will make arrangement to facilitate functioning of the centre by roping in trained staff," he added.
The officer said Mysore has total three ART centres, including Asha Kirana and JSS Hospital and nearly 100 ICTCs of which 72 are 24/7 centres.
Raghukumar claimed that workload has increased in other two privately-run centres, but those depending on the government centre are feeling the pinch. The government is spending nearly Rs 12,000 annually on a patient for medicines and other treatments.