Mumbai: Nurses providing medical services during the Corona outbreak have started agitation at Azad Maidan against the government’s decision to fill the posts on contract basis. In order to resolve this issue, a meeting of health ministers with the Maharashtra State Nurses Association was held on Wednesday. Apart from financial demands, other demands will also be considered, he said. However, due to unsatisfactory discussion on other demands, a two-day strike will be called in the state from today, Thursday, said Manisha Shinde, general secretary of the union.
To address the problem of insufficient manpower, the government has approved filling of posts on contract basis. The agitation called by the Maharashtra State Nurses Association will continue, reiterating the demand for exclusion of nurses from this decision. If the issue is not resolved even after the strike, the movement will continue indefinitely, the organization warned.
What are the demands?
In all the government medical colleges in the state, the residences of the nurses are old. Nurses’ residences should be reserved or rebuilt.
Nurseries should be available in all medical colleges in the state, and a state nursing unit should be set up in the public health department. Scholarship of student nurses should be increased. The designation of nurses in the Department of Medical Education and Public Health should be changed to enhance the personal and social status of nurses in the state as in the case of the Central Government.
Possibility of impact on healthcare
The possibility of the absence of nurses affecting the health system in the state cannot be ruled out. The idea that nurses will not provide services in all other medical departments, including the emergency department, was given to the directors, including the medical education department, on behalf of the organization.
