Patna: Healthcare services at Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) were disrupted on Monday after outsourced employees staged a protest, alleging that they had not received salaries for the past six months.The workers, employed through a frontline outsourcing agency, claimed that repeated appeals to company representatives and hospital authorities had failed to resolve the issue. They said the delay had caused severe financial distress, making it difficult for many to support their families.Vikas Kumar, a ward attendant engaged through the agency, alleged that while payments to several outsourcing firms were released on time, funds meant for the frontline agency were often delayed, resulting in irregular salary disbursement. According to him, employees are frequently forced to wait for months to receive their wages.As part of the protest, outsourced staff posted in operation theatres and hospital wards suspended work, affecting routine services and causing inconvenience to patients and their attendants.The employees also objected to the appointment of a new outsourcing agency, alleging that responsibilities were being handed over without clearing the dues of workers under the existing arrangement. One of the protesters, Avinash, said pending salaries should be paid before any transition takes place.The agitating workers said they would continue their protest until their dues were cleared and their grievances addressed.Responding to the allegations, PMCH superintendent Dr Rajiv Kumar Singh said the dispute was between the outsourcing agency and its employees and not the result of any delay on the part of the hospital administration. He said the agency had submitted salary bills for Dec and Jan only on June 23 and the required fund allotment from the department was still awaited.The superintendent said the pending payments would be processed within 72 hours of the funds being released. He added that the agency had been asked to submit salary bills up to June within three days so that all outstanding payments could be cleared together once the allotment was received.Dr Singh said he expected the funds to be released within a week and assured that there would be no delay from the hospital’s side in making the payments.
