‘Used and discarded’: Laid off staffers to meet municipal officials today

After over a year of service doctors and other medical staff hired on contract to work at the NESCO Jumbo Covid19 Centre received a mail from the civic body on Friday last week saying their employment stands terminated effective from that day itself The email cited repairs to a section of the centre for laying off approximately 150 workers The laidoff staff have launched a protest and demanded that they be reinstated The staff has said they will not stop protesting until the government hears them outThe doctors and other medical staff have said that until and unless the government takes its decision back they will continue to protest Meanwhile a team from the staff will be meeting senior civic officials to place their demands on MondayAccording to sources around 150 staff including doctors nurses and paramedics have been sent the email ldquoThe staffers worked day and night in service of Covid19 patients for over a year Suddenly they received a termination letter from the BMCrdquo the source saidThe laidoff staff say they wonrsquot stop protesting unless the termination is rescindedThe mail states ldquoNESCO DCHC shall be closing Hall B due to some urgent repairs and maintenance services And hence would be terminating your employment with NESCO wards with immediate effect till the repairs are completed and the wards are ready to open up Your last working day is July 2rdquoDr Shezan Ali Hemani who was employed at the NESCO centre said ldquoWithout any notice or prior intimation we received the mail that we have been terminated We worked in difficult times and treated so many Covid19 patients at the centre There are still 150 Covid19 patients at the centrerdquoHemani added ldquoWe have been told that the centre has to be repaired so it is being closed and the admitted patients will be shifted to a private agencyrsquos camp in the premises But we believe that the authority had recently built a new section for patients considering the second wave Instead of shifting patients to the private agencyrsquos centre the authorities should shift them to the new section so that we can take care of themrdquoldquoWe suspect that the authorities are doing this to award this contract to a private agency in the name of repairs And we are being laid off in the processrdquo Hemani said adding ldquoWe will not let this happen and shall meet senior officials on Monday The protest will continue unless our demands are fulfilledrdquoDr Sagar Vyas who has also been laid off said ldquoMany people also received another mail which said that their termination is not final and that senior officials are going to meet to decide on the matter on TuesdayrdquoDahisar staff struggles tooJobless youth who had turned to the Dahisar Jumbo Covid19 Centre for work amid the lockdown are left jobless again after Cyclone Tauktae damaged it The centre has been under repairs and the employees have been told not to report to work again as they wonrsquot be hired The workers have been told that only people with degrees in medicine and nursing will be hiredThe laidoff youth have opposed the move saying they treated so many Covid19 patients during their stint The workers were hired on contract to serve as ward boys and assistant doctors to treat Covid19 patients as not many were coming forward to take up the risky job The youths also said they have received only half of their pending salaries for MayPratik Shinde of the dance group lsquoArea67rsquo said ldquoWe gave our 100 per cent when nobody wanted to work at Covid19 centres We were told that we will be called to work after the repairs Even as we were waiting to be called back we suddenly received half of our pending salaries and a call that we wonrsquot be hired again for lack of relevant education It feels insulting that we are being ignored after the centrersquos need is over I had started thinking that I could make a career in this field But this decision broke themrdquoTuesdayDay this week sr civic officials are going to meet to decide on their employmentInputs from Shirish Vaktania