New Delhi, Jul 1 (PTI) A total 150 outsourced staff hired for Covid duty during 2020-21 at a Delhi government-run super speciality hospital were on Friday "sacked" by authorities due to administrative reasons, officials said.

COVID-19 patients are not coming for admission for the last few months and currently all beds reserved for coronavirus patients are "lying vacant" at Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH) in east Delhi, which is one of the factors behind the decision, a senior official said.

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"About 500-600 staff -- sanitation workers, security personnel and nursing orderlies -- were hired via an outsourcing agency for Covid duty during 2020-21. As no Covid patients are getting admitted, so we have surplus of staff, and hence 150 were sacked today after much consideration," the official said on Friday.

A group of sacked outsourced staff also sat on the floor of the hospital's lobby to protest the decision, the officials said.

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Sources claimed that another factor behind their sacking was "below satisfactory performance".

"However, these staff are all trained, and if tomorrow Covid cases rise again, we may rehire from among these people, accordingly," the senior official said.

RGSSH has 650 beds and it has been one of the main dedicated Covid facilities in Delhi since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)