The management of the Kantilal Gandhi Memorial Hospital managed by Medica stopped admission of patients at the hospital since Friday night.

The Kantilal Gandhi Memorial Hospital, managed by Medica, which is better known as Medica hospital in Bistupur’s South Park area, stopped accepting new patients after its housekeeping staff went on a strike three days ago over not getting paid for the last two months.

On Saturday morning, about 30 housekeeping employees, mostly women, assembled outside the hospital gates to prevent the entry of other colleagues who were not on strike.

One of the protesting staff told The Telegraph that they had not been paid their monthly salaries since the past three months. The protester said they were not employed directly by the medical hospital but rather by a contractor.

“We did not get salaries for three months but on Friday, our contractor B. Krishnan, paid us one month’s salary. He still has to clear our salary of two months. We have resorted to the strike in protest against our not getting paid for months. Don’t we have mouths to feed at home?” said the protesting employee. The young woman added: “That’s why we don’t want the protest to get diluted. We are here at the gates to prevent any housekeeping staff from entering the hospital premises.”

She said that not getting paid for months meant that their savings were exhausted and uncertainty made them pass sleepless nights.

The strike comes as a fresh blow to Medica hospital, already crippled by very low patient occupancy during the Covid-19 menace.

Recently, the hospital faced stiff resistance from nurses when it sought to transfer 31 of them to its main branch in Calcutta, which is a Covid-19 red zone.

When it issued a written transfer order, around 10 nurses resigned, it has been learnt from a reliable source. The source said the nurses’ resistance emboldened the housekeeping staff to go on strike over their unpaid salaries.

No one from the hospital administration came on quote. Medica’s manager, operations, Amit Kumar Singh, did not take The Telegraph’s call.

Contractor B. Krishnan admitted he could not pay salaries regularly. “Yes, salaries of three months were due, but yesterday (Friday) I gave them a month’s pay,” he said. “I will pay the rest of their dues on Monday if my get my own dues from the hospital. I received assurance from 35 housekeeping employees that they will join work on Sunday,” he said.