Skip to main content

Government Continues Neglecting Rights of Hospital Cleaners

On 1 December 2020, the Minister at Prime Minister's Department, also the Member of Parliament for Alor Gajah, Mohd Redzuan answered in the parliament that only doctors, nurses and other medical personnel dealing directly with Covid-19 high-risk groups will receive a one-off payment amounting RM300, while hospital cleaners will not receive the payment although also they had been working on the front-line.[1]
The hospital cleaners are not directly employed by the Ministry of Health but outsourced to a private contractor named UEM Edgenta. Under this system, the hospital cleaners are not considered front-line personnel. The hospital cleaners are also prone to exploitations, for instance, the contractor had harassed and bullied their union members and refused to distribute personal protection equipment (PPE) to them. [2][3]
The government had clearly ignored the hospital cleaners that worked on the front-line along with the medical personnel, as they are responsible for cleaning the hospital including disposing medical wastes and patient excreta. Although the education qualifications of the hospital cleaners are not as high as the doctors and nurses, professional knowledge and long-term experience in related fields are still required to carry out their tasks. During the pandemic, they are exposed to the risks of infection while cleaning the wards and medical equipment of the Covid-19 patients. Therefore, Mohd Reduan’s claim that hospital cleaners are not a party dealing directly with Covid-19 high-risk groups is utter nonsense.
The policy of outsourcing services in government agencies to private corporations had existed for many years. As the contractors of the hospital cleaners changed frequently, the salary of the hospital cleaners remained stagnant over the years. The government had shirked their duty of protecting their workers’ right to the contractors, allowing the contractors to exploit hospital cleaners without government supervision. Moreover, the government also arrested the activists that defended the rights of the hospital cleaners in June, portraying their merciless attitude towards the forgotten heroes that stood on the front line fighting the pandemic. [4]
Therefore, NESA condemns the government for neglecting the rights of hospital cleaners. We urge the government to provide assistance towards hospital workers and consider reemploying hospital cleaners directly under the ministry's discretion to safeguard hospital cleaners’ rights.
New Student Movement Alliance of Malaysia
NESA
[1] Redzuan: Tiada bayaran ‘one-off’ RM300 kepada pembersih hospital, Malaysiakini, 1 December 2020,
[2] After Ipoh hospital cleaners’ protests, employer says has implemented safety measures, to resolve matter internally, John Bunyan, Malaymail, 3 June 2020,
[3] Health Ministry can't get involved into hospital cleaners not given PPE issue unless there is service disruption, says Health DG,
[4] Five arrested outside Ipoh hospital for peaceful protest against union-busting move,



Comments

New comments are not allowed.

Popular posts from this blog

UM Admin Maliciously Forces CEC to Delay Campus Election

The University of Malaya (UM) Campus Election is a major democratic event of UM where all undergraduate students have the right to vote for the new leadership board of the University of Malaya of Students’ Union (UMSU). Every year, the Campus Election Committee (CEC) is the party which is responsible for organising the UM Campus Election, with its committee and members consisting of UM students. At the end of 2018, the first CEC board was formed upon the first reformation of university policies by the Ministry of Education, which came into being due to the efforts of UM student activists. The formation of CEC has conferred UM students the power to organise campus elections on its own, signifying the first step towards restoring student autonomy. The CEC plays an important role in reflecting student autonomy as well as campus democracy. Unlike the campus elections which were controlled by the university management and various political parties prior to 2018, the elections organised by t...
Post a Comment
Read more
On 6 May 2021, Palestinian residents protested against the Israeli Supreme Court’s upcoming decision to evict Palestinian residents from Sheikh Jarrah. On the following day, Israeli police attacked Palestinian Muslims who were worshipping at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, thereby injuring approximately 180 Palestinians. 80 of these injured Palestinians were sent to the hospital for treatment and one was in critical condition. [1] Subsequently, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), a Palestinian militant group, fired missiles into Israel, while Israel counterattacked with airstrikes targeted towards refugee camps, media offices, and health infrastructures. Ground troops were also sent to attack the wounded and medical staff. As of 18 May, 213 Palestinians, including 61 children, were reported to have died; on the Israeli side, 10 casualties were reported, two of which were children. [2] The United Nations Security Council held two rounds of emergency closed-door meetings on the 10th and 12th of...
Post a Comment
Read more

UM Pleases the Government Due to Change in Political Climate

UM was previously proud to announce that UM students enjoyed student autonomy and bragged that the organising of the campus elections are completely controlled by its students (CEC). However, it has now become a puppet of the authorities, blindly following policies which were put in place to interfere with campus democracy! Since the change of the Federal Government in 2018, the opportunity for student autonomy to grow arose. For the first time in more than 40 years, the CEC, which is an all-student committee, was established with the full support from UM in order to hold campus elections during the second semester of each academic year. At that time, UM actively supported the reformation and was even willing to clear the obstacles for its students which arose when holding campus elections to show its support and protection for campus democracy. Today, ever since the Ministry of Higher Education under the Perikatan Nasional government started to intervene in matters pertaining to unive...
Post a Comment
Read more