Hospital in soup following a complaint of manual cleaning

The medical director and other members of the management office of a reputable mission hospital in Indiranagar have been booked under strict sections of the Prohibition of the use of manual garbage collectors and their Rehabilitation Act as well as sections of the SC Prevention Act and ST (Atrocity) Act for allegedly taking a few of their staff down manholes to clear his blocks and clear them . However, hospital management denied the allegations.

According to sources, they were not only forced to work in manholes in the hospital compound, but also down into manholes on the main road where the hospital’s sanitary lines connected. to the sanitary chambers of the main road to clean its blocks.

An agent from the deputy director’s office, social welfare office, TC Palya Main Road at KR Puram, on Saturday filed an FIR with Indiranagar Police against the Medical Director of Chinmaya Mission Hospital (CMH) Dr Sudheer and other officers, including an administrator, identified as Shankar Ganesh, Issac, Chiranjeevi and Basavaraj respectively.

Complainant Madhusudhan KN (47) told the Bangalore Mirror that the office of the deputy director of the social welfare department received a complaint from the local office of Safai Karmachari Andolan in Bengaluru, which the department felt that criminal prosecution should be pursued. follow.

However, a few members of the Chinmaya Mission Hospital Employees Union/Association told this newspaper that the hospital management is in the process of dismantling the union of registered employees of the hospital and also suspended some union leaders recently. for not towing their lines.

According to Dhananjay, who was the co-secretary of the CMH Employees Union, one of the victims, Venkatesh R, who had worked as a sanitary cleaning staff at the hospital for 13 years, alleged that he had been forced to descend into manholes to clean the blocks from April 2010 until 10 months ago, when at which he was fired for “refusing” to descend into a manhole.

Before being sacked, Venkatesh was allegedly instructed by his manager to go and drink alcohol and even offered him money, so he wouldn’t feel disgusted while he was going down the hole. man to clean his blocks. After Venkatesh told his manager that this was the last time he would go down the manholes, the latter allegedly started accusing him of coming to work drunk and even threatened to fire him. Venkatesh approached union members, as well as some Safai Karmachari Andolan activists and reported the matter. “It was not only Venkatesh but also other cleaning staff like Seena alias Srinivas and Dheivadheenam who were threatened with dismissal if they refused to work inside the manholes,” Dhananjay told the Bengaluru Mirror.

Dhananjay even collected video footage of hospital staff descending into the manholes to clean the blocks with their uniforms, face shields, masks and gloves.

“At one point, even BBMP officials who noticed hospital staff going down the manholes, warned the hospital management, saying that not only the manager of the maintenance staff, but also the head of the establishment would be liable to criminal prosecution. “However, all of these warnings fell on deaf ears from hospital management,” Dhananjay said.

Venkatesh had approached Safai Karmachari Andolan and Karnataka Samatha Sanika Dala (KSSD). President of KSSD Channakrishnappa and Women’s President Kamalamma, who is also a member of the ban on manual recovery movement, sent a petition to the office of the Deputy Director of the Department of Social Welfare.

Human rights activist Bezwada Wilson told the Bangalore Mirror, “Mission hospitals like Chinmaya should not engage in such abusive practices but set an example for other institutions,” Bezwada Wilson told the Bangalore Mirror.

Meanwhile, denying the allegations, Dr. Sudhir, medical director of CMH, told the Bangalore Mirror: “Venkatesh worked as a sanitary worker in the housekeeping department and was dismissed from the services about nine months ago since he was found drunk at work on a number of occasions. He coming to work intoxicated was measured with an alcoholmeter. He had also accepted the charges, but was removed from his post.