A group of nurses at the District Government Medical College Hospital in Annamalai Nagar, Chidambaram, staged a protest on Wednesday, April 9, demanding a fair rotation of night shift duties.

Sources said over 250 nurses are employed at the hospital, but around 40 of them were being assigned night duty disproportionately. Citing mental stress from repeated night shifts, the affected nurses launched a sit-in protest inside the hospital premises on Wednesday morning, according to the report by The New Indian Express.

The protest drew support from Pandian and John, president and secretary of the hospital’s government employees’ union,Joint Action Council of Tamil Nadu Teachers Organisations-Government Employees Organisation (JACTO-GEO) Coordinator Professor Balamurugan, and other staff members.

The demonstration led to brief commotion at the hospital. College dean Dr C Thirupathi, hospital superintendent Dr Junior Sundaresh, and other senior doctors engaged with the nurses in dialogue.

Hospital authorities assured the protesters that night duty assignments would be distributed more evenly going forward. Following this, the nurses called off their protest by afternoon and resumed their duties, as per a report by The New Indian Express.