Despite government promise, many nurses stick to their demands
TNN | Updated: Nov 29, 2017, 07:22 IST
Nurses on strike at the office of the directorate of medical and rural health services in Chennai on Tuesday b... Read More CHENNAI: Nearly 4,000 government nurses who struck work and more than 2,500 of them camping on the directorate of medical services campus in Chennai since Monday will return to work on Wednesday, representatives of Tamil Nadu MRB Nurses' Empowerment Association said at the secretariat on Tuesday.
However, a large section of the nurses decided to continue their strike and stay on the DMS campus as they wanted the promises to be issued in the form of a government order (GO). District representatives from the association held talks with health minister C Vijaya Baskar and senior health officials for nearly three hours on Tuesday. "We will temporarily withdraw strike. The minister has promised to address 90% of our demands. We are satisfied," said nurse Aishwariya, who works with the institute of obstetrics and gynaecology. "We will all return to work from tomorrow," she said.
While the nurses refused to elaborate on the discussions, Vijaya Baskar said: "They have withdrawn the strike. All charges and notices issued for their absence will be withdrawn. They will continue to hold discussions with officials next week," he said.
Senior officials said the department has recommended doubling the salary for nurses and also recommend giving them travel allowances in case they are being deputed to another clinic or hospital. "We told them that their jobs will be made permanent whenever there is a vacancy in the government," a senior official said. Nurses have been on strike since Monday demanding permanent job, higher pay and eight-hour work shifts. The state health department appointed around 10,000 nurses through the medical recruitment board on the basis of a competitive examination under the central government-sponsored National Rural Health Mission scheme. These nurses are being given a consolidated pay of Rs 7, 700 per month. "We work for about 12 hours a day and get just Rs 250 per day, like daily wage labourers. There is no travel allowance even if we are deputed to another PHC for a short while," said H Jaganathan
TNN | Updated: Nov 29, 2017, 07:22 IST
Nurses on strike at the office of the directorate of medical and rural health services in Chennai on Tuesday b... Read More CHENNAI: Nearly 4,000 government nurses who struck work and more than 2,500 of them camping on the directorate of medical services campus in Chennai since Monday will return to work on Wednesday, representatives of Tamil Nadu MRB Nurses' Empowerment Association said at the secretariat on Tuesday.
However, a large section of the nurses decided to continue their strike and stay on the DMS campus as they wanted the promises to be issued in the form of a government order (GO). District representatives from the association held talks with health minister C Vijaya Baskar and senior health officials for nearly three hours on Tuesday. "We will temporarily withdraw strike. The minister has promised to address 90% of our demands. We are satisfied," said nurse Aishwariya, who works with the institute of obstetrics and gynaecology. "We will all return to work from tomorrow," she said.
While the nurses refused to elaborate on the discussions, Vijaya Baskar said: "They have withdrawn the strike. All charges and notices issued for their absence will be withdrawn. They will continue to hold discussions with officials next week," he said.
Senior officials said the department has recommended doubling the salary for nurses and also recommend giving them travel allowances in case they are being deputed to another clinic or hospital. "We told them that their jobs will be made permanent whenever there is a vacancy in the government," a senior official said. Nurses have been on strike since Monday demanding permanent job, higher pay and eight-hour work shifts. The state health department appointed around 10,000 nurses through the medical recruitment board on the basis of a competitive examination under the central government-sponsored National Rural Health Mission scheme. These nurses are being given a consolidated pay of Rs 7, 700 per month. "We work for about 12 hours a day and get just Rs 250 per day, like daily wage labourers. There is no travel allowance even if we are deputed to another PHC for a short while," said H Jaganathan
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