Gandhi nurses go on flash strike, patients hit

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/gandhi-nurses-go-on-flash-strike-patients-hit/articleshow/56845567.cms

HYDERABAD: High drama unfolded on the premises of the state-run Gandhi Hospital on Saturday after 210 outsourced nursing staff went on a flash strike, demanding regularisation of their jobs.

Patients and other staffers were taken aback when about 20 of these nurses climbed on to the 8th floor of the main building around 8 am and threatened to take their lives if their demands were not met.

Till late evening (at the time of filing this report), the nurses stayed put on the floor, without food and water. Repeated appeals by hospital authorities to call off the strike failed to yield any result.

"This is the fourth time that the outsourced nursing staff of the hospital has gone on strike on the same issue since the formation of the new state. Yet, the government has done nothing to resolve the issue. It has only made empty assurances," rued M Narasimha, general secretary (Hyderabad) of the All India Trade Union Congress, the organisation that the outsourced nurses are affiliated to.

Though these nurses have been staging a one-hour token protest every day - since the past one week - what prompted them to intensify their stir on Saturday was the government's reported move to sideline them during the fresh recruitment drive, scheduled in government sector hospitals soon.

With over 10 years of experience, these nurses feel that their chances of direct absorption as government nurses would be lost if they are made to compete with freshers during the recruitment drive.

"The state health department is not treating us on par with contract private nurses working in government hospitals as the latter are being allotted two extra marks for every one year of experience and up to a maximum of 20 marks according to a government order issued last month. The order notified 1,000 vacancies for nurses in government sector hospitals whereas there is no such facility for outsourced nursing staff in the recruitment process," complained V Meghamala, a nursing staff leader.