Without notice, hundreds of nursing orderlies sent packing in GTB Hospital

Without any notice being given, hundreds of nursing orderlies (NOs) have been sacked from the Guru Teg Bahadur hospital, Delhi on Tuesday. Most of the nursing orderlies at GTBH were not even given their remuneration for the past few months.

The termination has left the sacked NOs, shocked and demoralised, as they have no other means to earn their livelihood. These NOs have been working under Saint John Ambulance, an organisation which had a contract with GTB hospital.

Expressing their anger over the sudden move, all the terminated NOs protested against the hospital administration and their contractor in the hospital premises and raised slogans.

"Firstly, they have not been paying our salaries. Now they have ousted us. If the hospital wanted to oust us, it should have informed at least a month earlier, so that we would have arranged jobs elsewhere. Many of us have families which completely depend on our earnings. Now, we have been terminated suddenly. This is humiliating," said Naeem, one of the sacked NOs.

Moreover, "nearly 80 percent nursing orderly have not been paid for last five months and approximately, 20 percent have not received their remuneration for more than five months," he added.

Ravinder Kumar, another sacked NO, stated that the matter is related to termination of tender of Saint John Ambulance which ended on March 31, 2017.

"Now, new tender has been given to other company, which has its own manpower. They will depute them. But we should have been intimated before the termination of Saint John Ambulance. This is not the first time such a mess is happening here. We had gone on strike many times earlier too due to non-payment of our salary. Many of us have not been paid salaries for four to five months. Now, instead of paying pending salaries, they have ousted us," explained Ravinder Kumar.

Rajpal Yadav (name changed), a nursing orderly, said, "We have been told that our contract is over. We can leave the job as our job was just to do manav seva (Human Service).Moreover, we had earlier signed on blank papers and those signatures have created hurdles for us as the supervisor cites these signatures as proof of the end of our contract. This is how we have been cheated. Such issues can only happen with poor workers like us". Despite repeated attempts, Medical Director did not respond to any calls or messages.