Lucknow Health Services Hit as Docs, Outsourced Staff Strike Over Salary

Lucknow: Health services have been affected in Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) capital after more than a hundred doctors, along with outsourced employees, of Kalyan Singh Super Speciality Cancer Institute and Hospital (KSSSCIH) went on strike on Monday for their demands, including an increase in honorarium and equal pay with their counterparts at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS).

“We are not being compensated fairly for the work we do. Our monthly salary is only about Rs 86,000, whereas other MBBS doctors receive up to Rs 1 lakh,” one of the doctors told NewsClick. 

They also demanded a seventh-pay tier that would match that of SGPGIMS doctors. 

The cancer institute has 27 regular doctors and more than 100 resident doctors. Faculty Welfare Association officials claimed that they were “promised the same pay scale as that of SGPGIMS, but now they are being bought on par with medical colleges”. 

“The state government is trying to make cancer institute world-class. However, the institute faces an acute shortage of faculty members. It has only 27 faculty members whereas more than 200 cancer patients come to the OPD daily,” a doctor requesting anonymity told NewsClick. 

“The faculty members constantly demand the same pay scale as SGPGIMS. More than 20 super-specialist faculty members have already left the institute in the last several years. At the same time, many other faculty are also planning to leave the institute, a doctor said on the condition of anonymity,” the doctor added.

According to a December 9, 202, letter written by SSCI secretary Vijendra Kumar and Faculty Welfare Association UP, a recommendation was made to provide the same salary to the faculty members, but it hasn’t been implemented even after a year. 

Shouting slogans against the institute, the protesting doctors and paramedical staff alleged that the director reneged on a promise made during a meeting a few months ago. They warned of mass resignation and announced the closure of other services except emergency if their demands aren’t met.

The institute’s officiating director RK Dhiman said, “The cancer institute’s doctors are on the sixth pay scale, similar to those at SGPGIMS. The doctors had gone to court for the seventh pay scale. The case is pending with a court and we can’t intervene.”

Around 480 outsourced staff, including nurses, data operators, technicians and attendants, at KSSSCIH have joined the protesting doctors. 

Renu Sharma, a computer operator at KSSSCIH for the past three years, said, “Since the new company Sudarshan Facilities Private Limited took over in February, our salary has decreased. We used to receive Rs 16,000 a month. Now, we only receive Rs 14,000. It is unfair that our payment is withheld rather than being increased to the same level as what other medical institutions and SGPGI pay their outsourced staff.”

Nursing staff member Sandeep Chaturvedi, leading the protest, said that they were paid Rs 16,800 when XEAM Ventures Private Limited, an outsourcing company, handled management. Since Sudarshan Facilities took over, they are only paid Rs 14,000.  

“We visited with our director several times, handed him our note and got guarantees that our demands would be fulfilled. However, more than 10 months had passed. The medical college, PGI and KGMU outsourced workers receive Rs 20,000 monthly for doing the same work. We have been asking for a pay raise for the last three years, but the administration has been deducting our salary.”

In March, KSSSCIH nurses and paramedical staff boycotted work against the pay cut and said that it was done without prior notice.