Thiruvananthapuram: Medics, nurses, junior health inspectors and lab technicians, whose contract jobs had been terminated and were fighting for wage arrears, feel junior health inspector T Jagadish, 42, should have lived on to lead their struggle than take his life in a city hotel on Wednesday evening. Mr Jagadish had been a junior health inspector at the public health centre at Adoor on the Kerala-Karnataka border before his contract ended as the LDF ministry took over. As Jagadish’s body was placed in front of the Secretariat in the morning, before being taken to hometown of Thrikkaripur, a huge crowd of colleagues and sympathizers gathered to express solidarity but they blamed the “callous system” for making Mr Jagadish shuttle between Government offices, “leaving him to beg for wage arrears”.
Mr Jagadish was among 1,093 doctors and other health caregivers, appointed on contract by the Directorate of Health Services in 2012, to work at Government hospitals and health centres. But they were terminated last September, following objections by the Finance Department against “ad hoc” appointments. From then on, Mr Jagadish had been in the forefront, meeting Health Department officials besides Health Minister K. K. Shylaja, demanding that they be considered for future appointments and till then, salary arrears for 11 to 13 months be settled forthwith.
He mobilized funds from colleagues, approached the High Court and won an order that all pending wages be settled by January this year. However, the Government failed to pay up. Says Ms Shylaja: “The finance department had accumulated a huge burden of pending wages, not only of health department but other departments as well, on account of temporary appointments. Finance wanted us to wait till after the Budget to settle dues. That process was on. But this news is depressing. We had asked Finance to settle dues at the earliest because their demand was for work already done”.
Mr Jagadeesh had left a suicide note, saying he had taken the extreme step, upset with the delay in realizing the salary for 11 months, not only for himself but some 500-odd colleagues also. Among political leaders who consoled the grieving relatives and colleagues were former Health Minister V S Sivakumar, KPCC vice-president M M Hassan and BJP district secretary S Suresh. Mr Suresh said the Government should behave with equanimity than be partisan while handling such issues. Says Ms Athiramya S S, a nurse who lost her job like Mr Jagadish: “The Government should extend relief to the victim. He has left behind five siblings and a mother. But we all wanted him to lead the struggle than give up in a huff?”
