healthcare workers COVID-19

SC to Centre: ‘Ensure Frontline Worker Salaries Paid on Time, Quarantine Not Treated as Leave’

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that many states have complied with the directions but some of them like Maharashtra, Punjab, Tripura and Karnataka have not paid salaries to the doctors and healthcare workers on time.

New Delhi: Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka and Tripura are yet to follow directives on timely payment of salaries to healthcare workers engaged in COVID-19, the Centre on Friday told the Supreme Court, which said it cannot be “helpless” in implementing the directions.

The court directed the Centre to issue necessary directions for releasing salaries of doctors and frontline healthcare workers engaged in COVID-19 duty on time.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy and M.R. Shah asked the Centre to also clarify on treating compulsory quarantine period of healthcare workers as leave and deduction of their salaries for the same period.

“If the states are not complying with the directions and orders of the Central government, you are not helpless. You have to ensure that your order is implemented. You have got the power under the Disaster Management Act. You can take steps also”, the bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre.

Mehta said that after the top court’s directions on June 17, necessary orders were issued on June 18 to all the states, with regard to payment of salaries to healthcare workers.

Also read: Centre Revises Quarantine Period to 1 Week for Doctors, Health Workers in COVID-19 Facilities

He said that many states have complied with the directions but some of them like Maharashtra, Punjab, Tripura and Karnataka have not paid salaries to the doctors and healthcare workers on time.

Senior Advocate K.V. Vishwanathan, appearing for petitioner Arushi Jain, said the high-risk and low-risk classification made by the Centre has no basis and the government advisory of June 18 after the top court’s order has no rationale basis.

He said that there is still non-payment of salaries to healthcare workers.

The bench was hearing a plea of Dr Arushi Jain, a private doctor questioning the Centre’s May 15 decision that 14-day quarantine was not mandatory for doctors.

The top court also took note of an application filed by United Resident Doctors Association (URDA) through advocates Mithu Jain, Mohit Paul and Arnav Vidyarthi that salaries of doctors are being deducted for the period of compulsory quarantine treating it as leave period.

To this, Mehta conceded that “the said period can’t be treated as leave” and said that he would take necessary instructions on the issue.

He said the Central government will take steps to ensure that the salaries of doctors and healthcare workers are paid on time.

The top court posted the matter for further hearing on August 10.

On June 17, the top court had directed the Centre to issue orders in 24-hours to all states and Union Territories for payment of salaries to doctors and healthcare workers as also for providing suitable quarantine facilities for those who are directly engaged in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Also read: As COVID-19 Sweeps Karnataka, ASHA Workers, AYUSH Doctors Strike for Better Pay

It had said, “The Central government shall issue an appropriate direction to the chief secretary of the states/Union Territories to ensure that the orders are faithfully complied with, violation of which may be treated as an offence under the Disaster Management Act read with the Indian Penal Code.”

Dr Jain had also alleged in her plea that frontline healthcare workers engaged in the fight against COVID-19 are not being paid salaries or their wages are being cut or delayed.

The Centre had earlier told the top court that the May 15 circular on the standard operating procedure (SOP) will also be modified, doing away the clause for non-mandatory quarantine for healthcare workers engaged in COVID-19 duty, and they will not be denied the quarantine.

On June 12, the top court had observed, In war, you do not make soldiers unhappy. Travel an extra mile and channel some extra money to address their grievances.

It had said that the courts should not be involved in the issue of non-payment of salary to healthcare workers and the government should settle the issue.

NDMC Says Pending Salaries of Doctors for March, April Released

Doctors of two major hospitals under the NDMC – Hindu Rao Hospital and Kasturba Hospital – had been asking for their salaries, due for the last three months.

New Delhi: Salaries of doctors working for the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) which were due for March and April have been released, in compliance with the Delhi High Court orders, officials said on Friday.

Doctors of two major hospitals under the NDMC – Hindu Rao Hospital and Kasturba Hospital – had been demanding the release of salaries due for the last three months.

“As per the orders of Delhi High Court dated June 12, the salaries of JRs, SRs, DNB, PG doctors for the month of March and April was released on June 17 and June 18 respectively,” a senior civic official said.

Also read: Delhi HC Asks Municipal Body to Pay Salaries of 6 Hospitals by June 19

The Delhi high court had on June 12 directed the NDMC to pay the salary for March to the resident doctors in its six hospitals, including Kasturba Hospital and Hindu Rao Hospital by June 19.

An association of medics of civic hospitals in Delhi had earlier extended solidarity to the resident doctors of two municipal hospitals and threatened to resort to mass resignation if the three-month salaries due to them were not paid within a week.

The Municipal Corporation Doctor’s Association (MCDA), set up during the time of the erstwhile unified municipal corporation of Delhi, had also sent a letter to Lt Governor Anil Baijal seeking his intervention in the issue.

A copy of the letter was marked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, among others.

COVID-19: At Delhi Hospital Where Nurse Died, Others Say They Were Made to Reuse PPE

While nurses at Kalra hospital said they have not been provided sufficient equipment, the hospital’s owner has denied the allegation.

New Delhi: Nurses at Kalra Hospital in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, where 46-year-old nurse Ambika P.K. had recently died due to COVID-19, have alleged that they were asked to reuse personal protective equipment (PPE), including gloves and masks, for the past two months.

“While the doctors were given fresh PPE, the nurses were asked to reuse PPE. If we raised objections, we were told that since this is not a designated COVID-19 hospital, we are at little risk, and can reuse PPE,” a senior nurse at the Kalra Hospital told the Indian Express.

Another nurse close to Ambika disclosed that on her last day on duty a week ago, she had raised the issue of non-availability of “fresh PPE and masks” with the nursing in-charge.

On May 18, after finishing her morning shift, she complained of fever, bad throat and body ache and didn’t come for the night shift. On May 21, after she developed difficulty in breathing, she was taken to Safdarjung Hospital.

Ambika succumbed to COVID-19 on the afternoon of May 24. She had been working at the Kalra hospital’s neonatal wing for the past ten years and was recently deputed at the ICU. She lived in Delhi along with her 16-year-old daughter. Her husband resides in Malaysia and her son in Kerala.

“My mother’s condition deteriorated so rapidly. I couldn’t understand how to get here sooner. Over a week ago, she mentioned that the hospital was making her reuse PPE and charging money for masks. I got agitated and told her to just stay at home, but she didn’t listen to me. She continued working, and now she is dead,” Ambika’s 22-year-old son Akhil told the Indian Express.

Doctors at the hospital had also objected to nurses wearing used PPE. “The doctor said he won’t allow us in, and tore the discarded PPE. He said it wasn’t safe for us or the staff or patients. So, we have been wearing the OT gown instead. Instead of N95 masks, we have been given washable cloth masks,” said a senior nurse at the hospital.

Also read: Low Wages, Poor PPE: Contractual Healthcare Workers Face the Worst of the Pandemic

Meanwhile, nurses at Kalra Hospital have decided not to go to work until adequate safety arrangements were instituted. “Today it’s Ambika, tomorrow it can be me. I have not reported to work since Ambika’s death. Our neighbours aren’t happy about having a nurse next door,” a senior nurse said.

A nurse at the hospital said her parents “pleaded with her to skip work after they read about Ambika’s death”.

The hospital owner, R.N. Kalra, has denied the allegations saying that adequate PPE and hand sanitisers were being provided to all employees. “I have not received a single complaint from any staffer. If there is a single discrepancy, I will investigate and take strict action,” he said.

Similarly, nurses in-charge S. Wilson and Anita Soni, also denied the allegations and said, “PPE, gloves and sanitisers are available in bulk.”

Following Ambika’s death, the MP from her native place of Kerala’s Pathanamthitta, Anto Antony wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the release of insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh to Ambika’s family. He even alleged that private hospitals were not providing any kind of protective material, including N95 masks, to staff employed in their hospitals.

He has also written to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, asking for Rs one crore compensation for Ambika’s family.

Kalra Hospital in Delhi’s Kirti Nagar. Photo: kalrahospital/Facebook

“She is the first nurse in India who lost her life due to COVID-19. There are reports that nurses and healthcare workers in several hospitals in Delhi are forced to work without protective equipment even now. It is also requested to take urgent measures to ensure that hospitals are taking all mandatory measures to ensure safety of health workers,” Rajya Sabha MP K.K. Ragesh wrote to Kejriwal.

AIIMS Delhi’s senior sanitation supervisor passes away

On Monday, COVID-19 claimed the life of another worker who was working without protective gear at AIIMS, New Delhi. Senior sanitation supervisor Heera Lal had developed symptoms of COVID-19 last Tuesday. He was asked to rest at home after the hospital conducted his blood test but after a few days, his condition deteriorated. He was rushed to the emergency ward where he tested positive and died within a week.

“People whose roles need them to engage with all kinds of potential infection sources should get priority in protective gear. We have hundreds of sanitation staffers who are constantly on the job and at risk,” said Kuldip Singh, General Secretary of AIIMS’ SC-ST Association.

Ironically, on Thursday, the Union government claimed that it had become the world’s second-largest manufacturer of personal protective equipment (PPE), after China.