Fourteen staff members of the Government Mental Health Center in the capital’s Ulampara have not been paid their salaries for the past 11 months due to the COVID-19 outbreak. According to sources in the Centre, the salaries of employees, including security staff and cooks, were last paid in May 2021.
“Salary payment was delayed earlier too, but this is the longest gap ever. After the outbreak of COVID-19, six months of pending salary was paid from the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF). Now, it It’s been 11 months. It’s difficult to survive as most of us have debt outstanding. I faced a revenue recovery order. A doctor here helped me clear the amount,” says Prem Pradeep, a security employee. Huh.
The salaries of security staff and cooks are paid by the Hospital Development Committee (HDC). The main revenue center for HDC used to be fees collected from nursing students during their month-long training program. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, training programs were shut down, leading to a cut of funding.
Unlike security staff in other hospitals, people in mental health centers are required not only to guard the gates, but also to assist doctors in handling patients, especially violent ones. Some of them have also suffered injuries in the process.
“It is true that salaries have not been paid to 14 staff members since May last year. Now that the training session has resumed, we will soon be able to pay one month’s salary. But to clear the backlog. , the state government to provide us financial assistance. We have sent several letters to the authorities concerned in the last few months. Whatever action is initiated is stopped on reaching the finance department,” says Center superintendent Anilkumar .
Although a government order issued in 2018 states that HDC staff salaries can be drawn from the normal pay head if HDC funds are insufficient, but this has not been followed here. The center is also grappling with other issues including shortage of beds and staff. Although the total number of beds is 531, but now there are a total of 719 patients. Some fully recovered patients who are fit for discharge are still confined here as their relatives are reluctant to take them back. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, there have been several cases of prisoners trying to escape from the centre, most of them to return home.
Although a hospital monitoring committee headed by a district judge recommended increasing the number of security staff members to 30, the staffing pattern has remained unchanged over the years. However, de-addiction centres, child psychiatric facilities, rehabilitation centers and family wards have not resumed functioning during the pandemic.