THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KHRWS (Kerala Health Research and Welfare Society), which operates pay ward and various testing labs in government hospitals across the state, has found itself in a difficult situation due to the lack of income during the COVID period. The families of the employees will starve if the government does not provide financial assistance immediately. At the same time, the operation of labs where low-cost testing is available to the poor will also come to halt. With this, KHRWS submitted a letter to the government demanding Rs 11 crore immediately. KHRWS has 75 pay wards and 12 labs in medical colleges and other hospitals. Its main source of income are the rent from the pay wards and the fees from the ACR labs. The government took over all the pay wards for COVID treatment in January last year. With this, the revenue stopped. The meager income from the labs is not sufficient as other treatments are declining. Before COVID, the monthly income of KHRWS was Rs 6-7 crore.

KHRWS has to pay Rs 1.40 crore as the salary of employees. The government had provided Rs 13 crore after estimating the loss from January to February last year. 11 crore has been demanded considering the subsequent loss of revenue. KHRWS owes crores of rupees, including employee salaries, pension arrears to retirees, electricity, water and maintenance bills.

With the government taking over the pay wards, the staff there have also been assigned COVID duty. But they do not have the same benefits as other health workers. They are not covered by the central government's insurance of Rs 50 lakh in case of death while on duty. KHRWS has 680 employees. Of these, 450 are on COVID duty. 55 are permanent employees while all the others are on a temporary basis.