Wenlock Hospital staff temporarily withdraws protest

Wenlock Hospital staff temporarily withdraws protest

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, March 27: Twelve women and a man, who were sacked by Wenlock Hospital, temporarily withdrew their protest on March 26, Friday, vowing that they will hold a siege protest against KMC on April 5 if they are not given back their jobs within 10 days. It may be recalled that Wenlock Hospital had fired its security staff without prior notice a few weeks back. 

Muneer Katipalla, the president of the District Committee of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), spoke to media persons on behalf of the fired workers at an open air press conference organized in front of the Wenlock Hospital. He said that they had decided to give KMC 10 days to satisfy their demands. He confirmed that KMC is the only authority responsible for the sacking of these security workers, adding that KMC is wielding a lot of power over Wenlock Hospital. 

Katipalla said that the state government is handing over the controls of Wenlock Hospital to KMC under the excuse of government-private partnership, owing to which poor people are losing their rights to health care and poor workers are losing their jobs. He declared that they would fight against this undemocratic move. 

When the security staff reported for duty as usual a couple of weeks ago, the administration of the hospital informed them that their services were no longer needed and that their posts would be taken over by the personnel of a private hospital. They also asked the women to stay back for a few days to train the new personnel. 

The fired workers, shocked by the hospital’s decision, staged a protest under the auspices of the DYFI till Friday. They have served the hospital for nearly 8 years on a contract basis. Their services were not terminated in spite of the expiry of their contracts. 

Muneer said that if the hospital pays the agencies in time and as per the national minimum wages norms, it will be of great help to hundreds of security personnel within Karnataka as well as Mangalore.