KEM hospital staff likely to go on indefinite hunger strike from Thursday

In what is bad news for Mumbaikars, around 2000 staffers of civic-run KEM hospital in Parel are expected to go an indefinite hunger strike from Thursday.

The employees are undertaking the strike to protest against the callousness and indifference of the hospital authorities towards their demands that have been pending for several years.

"Many of us have not got proper uniforms since the last six years. Our arrears are also pending. Several rooms in the service quarters of the hospital are lying completely vacant but are none of them are being given to us. To add insult to injury, many of us do not even have identity cards," said Mahesh Dalvi, secretary of the Municipal Mazdoor Union (MMU).

The class III and IV workers including clerks and ward boys are demanding that the authorities fulfill their basic demands.

Discussing one of their demands, Dalvi discussed the plight of registration assistant Deepak Salve, a physically challenged person. Deepak, who has been working at KEM for the last three years, has been repeatedly requesting the authorities to give him morning shifts since he stays at Kalyan and working late hours severely inconveniences him. But the authorities have refused his request.

"Since the last three days, we have been gathering outside the Dean's office and voicing our grievances but it has resulted only in futility and despair. We have finally decided that we will go on an indefinite hunger strike so they at least address our issues," said Dalvi.