Health minister K K Shylaja said that it was not legally possible to regularise the services of 47 contract workers who had done selfless service risking their own lives during the deadly Nipah outbreak last May.

These contract workers, who had to be recruited on an emergency basis after some regular staff backed off in fear, are now on an indefinite strike in front of the Kozhikode Medical College demanding that their jobs be made permanent.

“Before absorbing the contract workers we have to see whether their recruitment will be a violation of the Supreme Court verdict in the Uma Devi case,” the health minister said in the Assembly on Monday. “The SC verdict clearly states that it would be a violation of article 320 of the Constitution,” she added. (Article 320 deals with the functions of public service commissions.) It was the Uma Devi case that was cited as a precedent by the High Court while terminating the contract employees in KSRTC in December 2018.

Shylaja, however, said that the government was still considering the possibility. “We are holding detailed discussions with various departments and Kerala Public Service Commission,” she said.

The health minister also said that even if making them permanent was not possible something equally beneficial could be done for the workers. “We have asked the hospital development committee to keep on extending their contract period every six months in various government hospitals in Kozhikode. There will be a small break in between, that's all. But some of the workers insist on a permanent job,” Shylaja said. 

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said that legal hurdles could be easily brushed aside by the Cabinet. “It is usual for the Finance Department to come up with such legal excuses. But the cabinet, if it is serious about helping the workers who had risked their lives during the Nipah outbreak,  can easily find a way out,” Chennithala said. The health minister said that the Supreme Court verdict was not something to be trifled with. 

Last year, after the spread of the virus was successfully contained, the government had also promised these temporary workers that their jobs would be made permanent. The health minister admitted as much in the Assembly on Monday when she said that last year it was decided to provide the contract workers permanent government jobs. “But even then we had made it clear it would be conditional on certain legal aspects,” the health minister said.

Last year, the permanent staff at Kozhikode Medical College were given an advance increment and the junior and senior residents were presented a gold medal “for taking care of Nipah patients without a care for their own safety”. All those who had worked to contain the outbreak, including the contract workers, were feted in a public function also.

Thirty cleaning workers, seven staff nurses, and five nursing assistants who were recruited on a contract basis had worked in the isolation ward where the patients were admitted. Five others worked at the Institute of Chest Diseases.

There was also a confusion about the number of contract workers in the Assembly on Monday. The minister kept referring to 29 contract/daily wagers. When Muslim League leader M K Muneer pointed out that there were 47 workers, the minister said that the government was open to revising the number.