Dialysis staff on strike

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: There is bad news for kidney patients in need of dialysis with staff from 122 government dialysis units launching an indefinite strike against the government demanding restoration of the salaries paid before the transfer of the dialysis scheme from BRS Health and Research Institute to Kolkata-based ESKAG Sanjeevini Pvt. Ltd. in January, 2022.

The protest has affected dialysis patients- as many as 4000 of them-who undergo dialysis in these units. Demanding salary restoration, around 500 staff members like dialysis technicians held a protest at Freedom Park in the city.

“My salary before the new agency came on the scene was Rs 25,000 but now it has been reduced to Rs 13,000.We will continue to protest till the government doesn’t give an official notification,” said a staff member.

The National Health Mission (NHM) officials claimed that they have informed the staff that the issue can’t be solved in a day. ''They were supposed to get paid by BRS Health Institute. But due to legal issues, the salaries have not been released,” said Arundathi Chandrashekar, State Mission Director, NHM.