JJ Hospital Staff to go on Indefinite Strike from July 3 over unmet demands
Mumbai: Employees at JJ Hospital have announced an indefinite strike beginning July 3, citing several unmet demands including the immediate filling of vacancies through direct recruitment and retention of transferred staff. The other demands included strict measures against those who assault hospital employees and the reintroduction of the old pension scheme for transferred workers.
The employees' union has stated that the responsibility for any disruptions to patient care will rest squarely on the shoulders of the government and hospital administration. JJ Hospital, which currently has 1,352 approved beds, has been grappling with a growing influx of patients against a backdrop of severe staff shortages, exacerbated by unfilled vacancies for the past decade, reports Mumbai Live. Patient care is severely affected as, in the last 10 years, no initiative has been taken to fill up the vacancies.
The union emphasized that the increasing patient load, coupled with the failure to recruit sufficient staff, has placed immense pressure on the existing workforce. This strain is compromising the quality of patient care and adversely affecting the mental and physical well-being of hospital employees. Staff members are unable to take personal leave, which has only worsened their overall health and morale.
Despite repeated appeals from the employees' association to address these issues, the hospital administration has been slow to act. The union has accused the administration of deliberately delaying the recruitment process, opting for a protracted approach to fill vacant positions instead of taking immediate action. Therefore, hospital employees have given an ultimatum that the 'work bandh non-cooperation movement’ will be held from July 3, 2024, reports the Daily.
Satyawan Sawant, the general secretary of the employees' organization, warned that patient care services could be severely impacted by the upcoming strike, with the hospital administration bearing full responsibility for any resulting consequences.
Last year, the hospital made headlines when the staff went on strike protesting against the alleged 'dictatorship' and toxic culture promoted by the department head. The resident doctors belonging to all three batches of JJ Hospital Dermatology Department went on mass leave demanding the removal of the Head of the Department (HoD) of Dermatology.
