Govt hospitals may hire labour agency

Government hospitals want to improve the quality of service they offer.

The idea behind the proposal is that the new staff would be hardworking and could be held accountable and easily replaced if found to be lazy, without the fear of a union strike.

Most importantly only those who have been trained to talk politely with patients would be hired.

"A proposal regarding this has been submitted to the Mantralaya officials. After approval, it would be implemented across hospitals in a phased manner. The idea is to improve the quality of work such as maintaining cleanliness, regular attendance and polite behaviour with the patients," said Dr Pravin Shengare, deputy director of Directorate of Medical Education and Research.

He said it would be the responsibility of the external agency to maintain standards that can match those in private hospitals in the state.

The flash strike by ward boys and nurses on Tuesday was the final straw.Kishore Shelar who had come to collect his uncle's dead body had a harrowing time. "I had to ferry his dead body alone from the hospital building to the house. No ward boy came to help me even though many saw me passing by. It was a horrid experience," recalled Shelar.

"If labour is outsourced, then the problem of unionism is solved. In the current situation, the workers are lazy and rude to patients. We receive several complaints against them but if you try to take action, they threaten us with a strike. If there is a professional agency involved to supply help, we won't get paralysed by strikes and needn't fear the unions," said the dean of a medical college.

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