Fourteen staff members at the Government Mental Health Center at Oolampara in the capital have not received their salaries for the past 11 months due to funding issues due to the COVID-19 outbreak. According to sources at the center, the salaries of employees, including security personnel and cooks, were last paid in May 2021.
“Wage payments had also been delayed in the past, but this is the longest gap yet. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, six months of outstanding wages were paid from the Chief Minister Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF Now, it’s become 11 months. It’s hard to make ends meet as most of us have outstanding loans. I faced an income recovery order. One of the doctors here helped me pay the amount,” he says. Prem Pradeep, a member of the security staff.
Salaries for security staff and cooks are paid by the Hospital Development Committee (HDC). HDC’s main income used to be fees collected from nursing students during their month-long training program at the center. After the COVID-19 outbreak, training programs stopped and funding was cut.
Unlike the security personnel of other hospitals, those of the Mental Health Center must not only guard the doors, but also assist the doctors in handling patients, especially violent ones. Many of them have also suffered injuries in the process.
“It is true that the 14 officials have not been paid their salary since May of last year. Now that the training has restarted, we will soon be able to give a month’s salary. But to clear the backlog, the state government has to give us financial support. We have sent several letters to the authorities involved in recent months. Any action that is started stops when it reaches the Finance department,” says Anilkumar, Superintendent of the center.
Although a Government Order issued in 2018 states that HDC staff salary can be taken from the head of general salaries if HDC funds are inadequate, this has not been followed here. The center is also beset by other problems, including a shortage of beds and staff. Although the total number of beds is 531, there are now a total of 719 patients. Some fully recovered patients who are fit to be discharged are still confined here as their relatives are reluctant to accept them back. After the COVID-19 outbreak, there have been several cases of inmates trying to escape from the center, mostly to return home.
Although a Hospital Oversight Committee, headed by the District Judge, had recommended an increase in the number of security staff to 30, the staffing pattern has remained unchanged for years. However, the operation of the addiction deactivation center, child psychiatry facilities, rehabilitation center and family rooms have not resumed after they were interrupted during the pandemic.
