Rural health workers in Ballari district who were deputed to Vijayanagara Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) for treating COVID-19 patients have expressed discontentment by stating that they were deputed without any risk allowance.
Ballari is one of the districts in the State that was hit hard by the pandemic. It has been reporting an increasing number of cases as well as deaths on a daily basis.
Between April 4 and 23, over 5,000 new cases were reported and 20 people succumbed to the infection in the last four days.
The increasing number of cases has mounted more burdens on VIMS, a State-run autonomous medical institution that was designated as COVID-19 hospital, as it is facing a severe resources crunch including health staff.
In order to fill the gap between the existing staff and the requirement, the District Health and Family Welfare Officer deputed 60 of the 237 community health officers from its rural facilities in the first phase.
“Injustice was meted out to us last year too when we were deputed for COVID-19 work without offering risk allowance. We performed many risk tasks during the COVID-19 peak last year, including screening at check-posts, contract tracing, and throat swab collection. Yet, we were not paid any risk allowance. Nor were we offered insurance cover. A community health officer died while discharging COVID-19 duties. No compensation was paid to his family members. The government is repeating the same injustice this time also by deputing us for COVID-19 without offering any risk allowances,” Shivashankar, a health worker from Hosapete, said.
The deputed health staff also expressed their concerns on the adverse consequences in the rural areas after their deputation to district headquarters.
“There is a lot of work at the rural health facilities. The health workers who are recruited on outsource basis are handling many health issues of the rural population including deliveries and childcare. Moreover, the COVID-19 has extended its tentacles deep in rural areas. If we are shifted to district headquarter, the rural patients would be deprived of healthcare. We request the District Health and Family Welfare Officer to withdraw his order and restore us back to our places,” Tukaram Naik from Sandur said.
