CHENNAI: Hundreds of nurses working in government hospitals across Tamil Nadu continued their protest for the third day on Saturday in different districts, demanding the regularisation of jobs of around 8,000, who were recruited on a contractual basis by the Medical Services Recruitment Board (MRB) in 2015.
The protests continued even as Health Minister Ma Subramanian claimed the nurses had withdrawn their protests after talks. He reiterated the state would regularise their employment when vacancies arise, but there were none at the moment.
The nurses, who started their protest in Chennai on Thursday, continued at the Kilambakkam bus terminus to which they had been shifted, and later moved to Urapakkam. On Saturday, nurses in other districts continued the stir.
Subramanian said that while efforts were already under way to fill the 169 vacancies now, the jobs of other nurses will be regularised only when vacancies arise. However, the nurses said the state has been creating infrastructure without proportionate increase in posts, instead managing with temporary workers.
‘Norm of one nurse for 3 patients grossly violated’
G Sasikala, state president, Tamil Nadu Nurses Development Association, said the government is exploiting the nurses without creating new posts but constructing new buildings and medical colleges.
In many Primary Health Centres (PHCs), nurses are forced to work 32 hours at a stretch even though duty hours should be only six hours as per norms, Sasikala alleged. These nurses are working for a salary of just Rs 18,000 per month. “They are not given paid maternity leave. If the government is talking about equal rights for women, why are they not heeding the plight of nurses who are (predominantly) women,” she asked.
She further alleged that the norm of one nurse for three patients is grossly violated. “In the ICUs, it should in fact be one nurse per patient, but many ICUs are run with a limited number of nurses,” said Sasikala, from the protest site in Nandhivaram in Chengalpattu district.
A Bejapsin, joint secretary of the association, said they are only demanding the ruling party keep its poll promise of regularising their jobs. From 2015 to 2019 and during the Covid-19 pandemic, the government recruited around 13,000 nurses on contract basis. “We were recruited in 2015 through the MRB, with the promise that in two years our jobs would be regularised,” said Bejaspin.
Another nurse, who did not wish to be named, said, “If the government does not fulfil our demands now, then they are not likely to do it for the next five years if they come back to power. Hence we are determined to continue the protest.”
Oppn condemns government
BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran, in a post on X, said, the ‘curse’ of the protesting nurses, who offer selfless service will not allow the DMK to come back to power. He criticised the government for evicting them from their protest site in Chennai and dropping them off at the Kilambakkam bus terminus and later detaining them in a marriage hall in Urapakkam. PMK founder S Ramadoss urged the government to offer permanent employment to the nurses immediately. “It is unfair to pay less to those who work on par with permanent nurses,” he added.
The story is reported by Sinduja Jane of The New Indian Express