Services at Hamidia and Sultania hospitals were severely hit after employees of outsourced agencies staged strike raising allegations of non-payment for the past six months.

The outsourced employees, including ward boy, sweeper, patient attendant and guard, stalled work and staged protest which impacted the work at OPD on Tuesday. USD is the company which provides man power for the support work at the two Government hospitals.

Patients were on their own or were taken to the doctors by family members or care takers. Apart from cleaning work to all other works nothing was done in the OPD. Family members were witnessed taking patients on the stretchers and wheel chairs. The strike impacted the working of the doctors also.

The company provides security workers, sweepers, computer operators, technicians, ward boys, and other contract workers including radiographers which are over 800 and these outsourced employees have alleged that company has not paid salaries for the last six months.

For services provided by USD around Rs 1 crore per month is paid through Gandhi Medical College and salaries of these 800 employees is paid through the money.

The contract has been given to USD by Hindustan Latex Limited.

The patients faced great difficulty as neither prescriptions were made and not the patients were treated.

Most of the services in these two hospitals have been assigned to outsource agencies.

On Tuesday all the services were stalled for two hours crippling the whole system and making the patients to pay for company’s fault.