Med, Non-Med staff protest after PCMC decides to shut down Auto Cluster Hospital

After the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation decided to shut down its 200-bed Auto Cluster hospital in Chinchwad on Tuesday, medical and non-medical staff held sit-in protests till late evening, with the staff refusing to move out of the hospital premises.

“We have closed down Auto Cluster hospital from Tuesday. This is because on Sunday, it had one patient and on Monday, it had no patients,” said Municipal Commissioner Rajesh Patil.

The PCMC decision, however, came as a shock for the 200-odd medical and non-medical staff working at the hospital. The staff said after the PCMC administration took over the charge of the hospital from Sparsh Multispeciality Hospital on May 9, the staff had been warned that if they left, criminal cases would be filed against them.

“The hospital has been suddenly shut down without any prior intimation or provision of employment as assured by them (PCMC) while acquiring the centre. We were all informed on May 9 that we were not allowed to leave the job or apply elsewhere as our services had been acquired by the corporation. We constantly requested them to hold meetings with additional commissioners, still our pleas were unheard… on Monday, we received a mail from the authorities saying we were being released from service, which was totally uncalled for, leaving us unemployed at this peak time,” said Dr Shruti Patil, one of the doctors at the hospital.