Telangana Govt's lethargy forcing Gandhi Hospital employees to strike: BJP

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], July 16 : BJP leader Ram Chander Rao on Wednesday visited the Gandhi Hospital where hundreds of medical staff staged a protest demanding better remunerations.Rao said that the state government's lethargy is letting them do this strike otherwise they are not interested in the strike.Speaking to , Rao said, "We are at the Gandhi Hospital where the COVID-19 patients are being treated. The staff nurses and the outsourcing employees are on strike as they are not being paid equally to the new joinees despite working for years."He said the government is focusing on demolishing secretariat instead of solving issues of medical staff.After the High Court gave its clearance to the construction of a new secretariat, the Telangana government authorities had started demolishing the secretariat from July 6."The salary of new nurses is Rs 25,000 whereas the experienced nurses' salary is only Rs 17,000. In the same way, the outsourcing employees are getting an amount of Rs 7,500. They want their salaries to be hiked as their lives are at risk, they are working round the clock and are having some personal issues which the government is not addressing. Instead, it is focusing on demolishing the Secretariat," Rao said."Their's demands are genuine so the government should come forward and solve the issue. Government's lethargy is letting them do this strike otherwise they are not interested in it and we also wouldn't support it if the government will not show some responsibility," added Rao.Earlier in the day, hundreds of nurses and outsourced staff at the Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad continued their strike to demand better remunerations. Gandhi Hospital is a designated Covid-19 hospital.Station workers, security guards and patient care personnel too held a protest demanding regularisation of their employment and a salary hike.

( With inputs from ANI )