Worried, Ramadoss to issue health norms for IT, BPO industry

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Unfazed by IT industry body Nasscom’s attack for his comments on the health of BPO workers, Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss on Friday said his ministry is planning to come out with guidelines for people working in the BPO and IT industry.

“They are our flagship industry and there is a fear that people working in these sectors will (have a) burn out soon if something is not done (now),” he told reporters here.

Ramadoss had earlier generalised people working in the BPO sector as those who “want to make a fast buck,” “party the rest of the time” after working “half the day” and indulge in “excessive smoking and drinking”—comments that “deeply distressed” Nasscom.

The software industry body had termed Ramadoss’ comments as an “unfair generalisation” of people who “work hard, with sincerity and dedication, and are well and fairly paid for that”.

Brushing aside the sentiments expressed by the the industry, Ramadoss rekindled the subject again on Friday, saying “young people in these industries are dying at an age of 24 years of heart attack and diabetes. They don’t have any physical activity.”

The minister said he along with communications and IT minister A Raja are “working out a white paper that will come out with guidelines, which is one way of saving these flagship industries.” Ramadoss further said a Chennai-based skin specialist told him that in some of these companies employees have complained of skin problems, which they get afflicted with due to stress and being in close confines in air-conditioned offices.