Wages revised in 2005,but still underpaid: Wadia Hospital employees

“I have been working here for the past 32 years and get a paltry salary of 17,000 per month,while another staff member from KEM Hospital,who is much junior to me,is paid Rs 35,000,” said Nirmala Sannake,registrar at the Wadia Hospital and a member of the hospital union. The nurses here are paid Rs 9,000,whereas the salary of a nurse in other BMC hospitals is about Rs 18,000.

According to hospital sources,the discrepancy is due to the clash of interests between the BMC and the Wadia Trust.”The trust members have not been entirely transparent with their expenditure records. The BMC has demanded that they have regular audits,which the trust members have not yet done,” said Uday Bhatt,a hospital union leader.

The revisions of the Sixth Pay Commission have been implemented in other BMC hospitals but are yet to be applied in Wadia Hospital. After repeated talks with the health minister,a committee was formed four months ago to look into the issue. A report was to be submitted within 45 days of its formation,but nothing concrete has come up from that either.

The BMC has remained tight-lipped on the issue. Calling it a ‘controversial’ topic,a senior BMC official said they have done all they could at their end. “All the annual grants for the hospital have been disbursed by the BMC. The revisions of the Sixth Commission are in the process of being finalised and will be applied at the Wadia Hospital as and when they are made. If it’s a matter of finance,I’m sure there are ways that the trust can raise money to pay their staff,” said the civic official.

The Wadia Trust,too,has refused to take responsibility for the situation and has passed the buck to the BMC. “We have approached the BMC several times but they have still not released the funds,” said an official from the Wadia group,who did not wish to named.

“The trust members refuse to pay our dues and they are not even recruiting fresh staff. As a result of this tussle between the BMC and the hospital trust,the staff members,and more importantly the patients,are getting affected,” said Bhatt.