Earlier this month, as many as 220 contract nurses started striking at Hyderabad's Gandhi Hospital demanding a hike in their wages. The strike has been indefinite. On Tuesday night, 620 Class-4 employees joined them in the indefinite strike.

Sanitation workers, security guards and others are reportedly striking demanding better pay as well as the regularisation of services.

Wage disparities between those earned by contract staff and those on the permanent rolls are the main reason why the former are embittered.

Talks were held to avert the strike, but they all failed. The contract workers are this time sticking to their grounds. The situation must not go out of control, especially because Gandhi Hospital is not only a Covid treatment facility but also the State's biggest one.