Make 24x7 medical aid centres mandatory in IT companies: Forum

The IT employee Moses, who was on a conference call with the on-site team in the US on November 27, suddenly froze. The on-site team informed to an offshore teammate to reach out to the employee, a release by the forum stated.

When the teammates checked on the employee, he was found lying on the ground suffering from fits. The ambulance reached the office after 15 minutes and there was no doctor or nurse available in the ambulance. A teammate of his accompanied him in the ambulance. Unfortunately, Moses was declared ‘brought dead’ at the hospital.

“IT workers work for extended hours which leads to stress. Many a times, they skip their meals and are also deprived of adequate sleep. Due to these reasons, they fall prey to depression and fatal disorders such as heart attack at an young age. When the IT companies have got exemption from labour laws, which facilitates them to extract work out of employees 24x7, why haven’t they set up appropriate medical facilities to safeguard employees’ lives,” question members of the forum.

The Forum for IT Employees has also come out with a list of demands. “We want the state government to take strong action against the company for failing to provide necessary emergency first aid treatment. We also want the company in question to provide adequate compensation to the victim’s family. An inquiry must be conducted by the labour commission and most importantly, we appeal all the IT companies to make it mandatory to have 24x7 free medical aid centres,” says Parimala, President of the forum.