CHENNAI: Most of us have woken up in the recent past to somebody at our doors, enquiring about our health or doing a thermal scan and noting the readings in a notebook they carry with them. They are people associated with city-based NGOs, which work for the Chennai corporation to take a door-to-door survey of the residents, under the Community Intervention Programme.
One fine day, they’re replaced by somebody else, or sometimes, nobody shows up at the door. That doesn’t seem to bother us, for we carry on with our daily routine. However, we are not the only ones who don’t bother about them. Several NGOs have alleged that their staff have never been tested for Covid-19 in the past 40 days, since they began working for the corporation.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the corporation and 92 NGOs, of which a copy is available with Express, showed that the civic body had promised “comprehensive medical care” for the NGO staff. However, it appears the ‘first party’ broke its promise. One of the worker tested positive for Covid-19 a few days back, and the onus of his treatment fell on the NGO, said the staff, adding that neither an acknowledgement nor a follow-up was done from the corporation even after being informed.
Sandhya (name changed), the head of an associated NGO said, the staff also had to bring basic medications to slum residents, who may need them. “What if he/she is an asymptomatic carrier of the virus, who may pass it onto those who come for medicines?” she asked. Well, that is not all. The corporation has also made it mandatory for all NGO staff to assemble at the division office everyday at 7:30 in the morning, for attendance. On an average about 60 people are present at a time at the office every day, and on some days, there are over a 100 of them.
“If all they need is our attendance, why not ask the supervisor to submit it?” questioned Sandhya, adding that the staff were also not given immunity boosters like Kabasura Kudineer or multi-vitamin tablets.
Meanwhile, a senior official of the city corporation told Express that 550 health camps were conducted by the corporation, and sanitary and surveillance workers were encouraged to attend the camp. “Only a minor percentage of the field staff tested positive, and most of them have recovered too. This momentum is being sustained because we have been taking care of them,” added the official.
With so much back and forth, all they want is to be treated as equal partners in this fight against the pandemic, say the NGO heads. “We are in it together and we want our staff to go to work every morning with a happy face. There needs to be a mechanism to get higher-ranked officials to listen to our feedback,” said Anu (name changed), programming head of another NGO.
The paper work
Under ‘Responsibilities of the First Party’, where the first party is the Greater Chennai Corporation, represented by its Commissioner, it is stated that the staff working in the project will be provided periodic screening, checkup, prophylactic medicines and treatment at government hospitals by the corporation, through government healthcare centres