Hospital staff unload COVID equipment after CITU seeks Rs 16,000

Global coronavirus deaths exceed 8 lakh

Turavur, Alappuzha: The staff of the Turavur taluk hospital in Kerala’s Alappuzha district had to unload a COVID equipment as the CITU workers sought Rs 16,000 for the task.

The doctors and other staff unloaded the 225kg-biosafety cabinet from the lorry and carried it to the TrueNAT laboratory on the top floor of the hospital on Thursday.

The union workers asked Rs 6,000 to unload the cabinet from the lorry and Rs 10,000 for moving it to the top floor using a crane. However, the hospital staff carried the cabinet to the top floor without using the crane.

The cabinet was brought from Mumbai. Initially, the workers were offered Rs 3,000 and then Rs 9,000. However, the workers refused to work for these wages and the hospital staff were forced to take up the task.

The CITU area leadership had intervened as soon as they heard about the incident, said district secretary H Salaam. Also, the workers were instructed not to squabble over the wages and not to create any obstruction if the hospital staff were to unload the cabinet.

The biosafety cabinet is used at micro-biology labs that handle hazardous objects and pathogens. The TrueNAT machine, for COVID-19 tests, is installed in these cabinets.

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