ESIC Nacharam healthcare workers protest over five-month salary delay

Over 200 contract and outsourcing healthcare workers staged a protest at ESIC Hospital, Nacharam, demanding release of salaries pending for five months. Workers blamed delays in fund release and lapses by outsourcing agencies for the crisis.

Hyderabad: Over 200 contract and outsourcing healthcare workers at ESIC Nacharam on Wednesday participated in a dharna in the hospital campus demanding release of salaries, which have been pending for the past five-months.

The outsourcing and contract health care workers are not paid directly by State and Central Governments but through third-party outsourcing agencies. “The hospital management is claiming that they have released the budget. However, the agency, on its part, has maintained that there is yet to release the salaries. Imagine the financial plight of the nurses and other caregivers in the hospital, who have not been paid for the past five months,” says M Narasimha, president, Telangana Medical Contract Employees Union and Workers Union.

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The protesting healthcare workers pointed out that the administration of ESI hospitals and their dispensaries involves State funding. In the past several months, the State government has delayed in providing the matching funds, which has caused a freeze in the payment of salaries, they said.

The caregivers, including sanitation and security staff, have maintained that delayed payment is happening in ESIC Sanathnagar and Nacharam facilities. “We are supposed to receive Rs 15,000 per month, but the third-party agency only provides Rs 11,000 towards salary. Moreover, they do not release funds on time,” senior doctors said.