Contract staff continue stir

Kakinada: The indefinite fast of the five outsourcing employees of Kakinada Government General Hospital (KGGH), N Revathi, Prashant, Swathi, Jagadeesh and Ramesh, seeking implementation of minimum wages as per the GOs issued by the government, continued into the fourth day, affecting both out-patient and in-patient care at the 1050-bed hospital, although they were forcibly shifted to the casualty ward late on Thursday night by police. The employees have refused the administration of fluids and are continuing with their strike.

Quoting section 30 of the Police Act, 1861, police in a late-night operation removed the tent erected outside the KGGH in-gate amid protests by the defiant employees.Some of them even threatened to jump from the roof of the main building. Kakinada RDO BR Ambedkar and hospital medical superintendent Dr Y Nageswara Rap dissuaded them from taking any extreme decisions.

On Friday, leaders of various organisations visited the families of the employees and their supporters who had assembled at the tent in large numbers.

BJP district unit president Y Malakondayya expressed solidarity with the striking employees and assured them of pursuing their demand with Medical and Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas. “It is up to the government to take a decision on minimum wages to outsourcing employees,” said VN Rao, Director of Vikasa Outsourcing Agency, to which the employees belonged.