NEPALGUNJ, JULY 18
Health workers in Nepalgunj Medical College, Banke, have complained that they have not received their salary and other benefits for three months.
Health workers said they were deployed on the frontline in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, but the medical college deprived them of their monthly salary and risk allowance even during this crisis situation.
Suman Giri Shrestha, a nursing officer, said it was very difficult to encourage health workers to dedicate themselves to the service of people due to lack of incentives.
She added that it was also difficult for the more than 1,400 health workers to run their families as the medical college had not provided them their monthly salaries for the last three months.
Health workers have demanded that they be given salaries and risk allowance as soon as possible. Staffers and health workers of the medical college have submitted a memorandum to the college administration to release their salary and other allowances on time.
A staffer at the medical college KP Ghimire said that the college administration had not taken the memorandum seriously. He said that it was very unfortunate that the college administration did not bother to release the salaries of frontliners, who worked round-the-clock during the COVID crisis.
Another staffer Krishna Bahadur Budha said they were compelled to stage protest as the staffers had been working without salary for the last three months.
Giri Shrestha said that the trade union and other organisations of the medical college had already signed an agreement for releasing the salary in the first week of the next month.
Nepal Health Workers and Staff Union Chairman Munir Khan said the organisations had a written agreement on the timely release of salary and salary increment.
He also said that the union had submitted a seven-point demand to the college administration on June 23.
Health workers and staffers have padlocked the account section, administration and manager's office saying that they could not work on empty stomachs.
Nursing Association, Banke, Chair Laxmi Oli said nurses deployed in the treatment of COVID patients during the pandemic had not received their salaries for months. She said it was very difficult to run the family as they did not get their salary for the last three months. Agitating health workers have demanded that their salaries and other benefits be released soon.
"Stringent forms of protests will be launched if the demands are neglected," added Oli.
Meanwhile, Deputy Director at the medical college Dr Nitesh Kanodiya said that the hospital could not release all the amount at once. He said that the hospital could not release the salary and other benefits collectively as the hospital was also facing financial loss due to the COVID pandemic. "We will release the salary soon once we get loan," he added.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 19 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
