Hyderabad: Working over 10 hrs in PPEs sans leaves

All technicians and data entry workers have been working for 10-15 years and are working for more than 10 hours. Being in a PPE kit for that long in a packed room with no ventilation and performing tests on nearly 300 COVID patients everyday is exhausting. On top of that, lack of leaves is also adding to their agony

Hyderabad: The technicians and the data entry staff of the state-run Gandhi Hospital, which is at present treating only COVID-19 patients, are irked over the attitude of authorities in resolving their long-pending issues. They have submitted a representation to the superintendent, threatening to boycott duties if their demands are not conceded.

There are around 90 technicians and data entry workers who are working for more than 12 hours seven days a week. The staff demands facilities similar to those provided to the nurses, as they are also putting their lives at risk in the frontline of battle against Covid.

Venkat Naik, a lab technician at the hospital, said, "I have been working for 14 years at the Gandhi Hospital as a lab technician and even after providing services for years still there is no job security for us. We have to work for less salaries without proper holidays. The government should consider our situation and do justice."

Currently, the hospital sees around 600 persons coming to undergo Covid tests. From performing X-Ray, ECG and other tests on these patients to maintaining records of their entries, the lab technicians have to risk being around positive patients all the time. Shivaranjani, a data entry worker, says, "Sitting in a PPE kit for more than an hour is itself unbearable and we have to sit in a single place for more than 10 hours. It gets suffocating at the same time. We are in a constant fear of getting affected by the virus, hence we asked the authorities to raise our salaries as has been done in the case of nurses."

Lab technicians get around Rs 12,000 a month whereas data entry workers are paid Rs 17,000. Both workers demand that their salaries be hiked up to Rs 22,000. M Narsimha, president of Technicians Association at Gandhi Hospital, shared, "All technicians and data entry workers have been working for 10-15 years and are working for more than 10 hours. Being in a PPE kit for that long in a packed room with no ventilation and performing tests on nearly 200 to 300 COVID patients everyday is exhausting. On top of that, lack of leaves is also adding to their agony."

They would stage protests if their demands are not addressed by Monday, they said.