Depressed TMH nurse suffering from TB hangs self to death

Source : https://www.avenuemail.in/jamshedpur/depressed-tmh-nurse-suffering-tb-hangs-self-death/92295/

Jamshedpur, April 18: In a shocking incident, a young nurse of Tata Main Hospital (TMH) hanged herself from the ceiling fan at her hostel in the hospital premises under Bistupur police station area on Monday morning. The nurse has been identified as Rashmi Kumari (24). She was suffering from tuberculosis.

The police took the body in their possession and sent it to the MGM Medical College mortuary for post-mortem after taking statement from her brother-in-law Vivek Prakash. Police said this to be a case of suicide and confirmed that the nurse was suffering from tuberculosis.

“We are investigating the incident of suicide. Though the deceased has left no suicide note, but a close relative told us that as she was suffering from TB. She might have committed suicide due to depression. We are looking into it,” said assistant sub-inspector Ravindra Sharma of Bistupur police station on the basis of the statement given by Vivek.

General Manager, Tata Main Hospital, G Ramdas, however, maintained that the nurse must not have committed suicide due to the disease; rather she must have some personal reasons which forced her to take this extreme step.

“Though the nurse who committed suicide was suffering from TB, but it must not be the reason behind such step. She must have some personal reason behind the move. The police are investigating into it,” said Ramdas.

She was staying alone in a room at the nurses’ hostel. Another nurse was to join her for staying along. But she committed suicide. Rashmi, a resident of Nalanda district of Bihar, used her `dupatta’ for hanging. The ASI, Sharma said Rashmi used to stay alone in a room.

He said after the incident the hospital managing informed the police and subsequently to the deceased’s brother-in-law Vivek Prakash, who is a resident of Govindpur and her local guardian.

Prakash who had turned at the MGM Medical College mortuary said that she was quite normal and had even talked to him yesterday.” We are in state of shock and don’t know what led to take such drastic step. There must be some other reason which we do not know.

She spoke to me yesterday over cell phone and she was quite normal,” he said.

In a statement issued on Monday, Tata Steel said, “It is with extreme grief and sorrow that we wish to inform that this morning at around 7.30 am, the body of Ms. Rashmi Kumari, (age 24), a student of 1st year, BSc, at the Basic Nursing Course at TMH, was found hanging in her room at the Nursing Hostel at TMH.

According to the statement, the police were informed of this incident immediately and they took her body into custody on arrival at site and sent it for autopsy. The cause of death will be known after the post mortem. The police are investigating into the matter.Jamshedpur, April 18: In a shocking incident, a young nurse of Tata Main Hospital (TMH) hanged herself from the ceiling fan at her hostel in the hospital premises under Bistupur police station area on Monday morning. The nurse has been identified as Rashmi Kumari (24). She was suffering from tuberculosis.

The police took the body in their possession and sent it to the MGM Medical College mortuary for post-mortem after taking statement from her brother-in-law Vivek Prakash. Police said this to be a case of suicide and confirmed that the nurse was suffering from tuberculosis.

“We are investigating the incident of suicide. Though the deceased has left no suicide note, but a close relative told us that as she was suffering from TB. She might have committed suicide due to depression. We are looking into it,” said assistant sub-inspector Ravindra Sharma of Bistupur police station on the basis of the statement given by Vivek.

General Manager, Tata Main Hospital, G Ramdas, however, maintained that the nurse must not have committed suicide due to the disease; rather she must have some personal reasons which forced her to take this extreme step.

“Though the nurse who committed suicide was suffering from TB, but it must not be the reason behind such step. She must have some personal reason behind the move. The police are investigating into it,” said Ramdas.

She was staying alone in a room at the nurses’ hostel. Another nurse was to join her for staying along. But she committed suicide. Rashmi, a resident of Nalanda district of Bihar, used her `dupatta’ for hanging. The ASI, Sharma said Rashmi used to stay alone in a room.

He said after the incident the hospital managing informed the police and subsequently to the deceased’s brother-in-law Vivek Prakash, who is a resident of Govindpur and her local guardian.

Prakash who had turned at the MGM Medical College mortuary said that she was quite normal and had even talked to him yesterday.” We are in state of shock and don’t know what led to take such drastic step. There must be some other reason which we do not know.

She spoke to me yesterday over cell phone and she was quite normal,” he said.

In a statement issued on Monday, Tata Steel said, “It is with extreme grief and sorrow that we wish to inform that this morning at around 7.30 am, the body of Ms. Rashmi Kumari, (age 24), a student of 1st year, BSc, at the Basic Nursing Course at TMH, was found hanging in her room at the Nursing Hostel at TMH.

According to the statement, the police were informed of this incident immediately and they took her body into custody on arrival at site and sent it for autopsy. The cause of death will be known after the post mortem. The police are investigating into the matter.

2nd year nursing student commits suicide in Patna

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/patna/2nd-year-nursing-student-commits-suicide-in-patna/story-JS5aVQoIWJUQhPv9VqwlYL.html

Source : https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170909/jsp/bihar/story_171760.jsp

The reason for the extreme step by the nursing student could not be immediately known as no suicide note was found in her hostel room on the campus of Nalanda Medical College and Hospital in Patna .A nursing student of Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) in Patna allegedly committed suicide in her hostel room on Thursday night.

Police said the body of Sirat Faruqi, a second-year student, was found hanging by a plastic rope tied to the window grille in her nursing school hostel room on NMCH campus in Alamganj police station area on Friday morning.

The reason for her taking the extreme step could not be immediately known as no suicide note was found in the room, Alamganj police station SHO Om Prakash said, adding that her parents had been informed and the body sent for post-mortem examination.

The station house officer (SHO) quoted hostel inmates as saying that Sirat, daughter of Farooq Ayub, was upset after she returned from her village in Begusarai district , 125 km east of Patna, recently.

Om Prakash said the incident came to light when NMCH security guards broke open the doors of the room after the hostel inmates informed the college authorities something was wrong.

He said the hostel girls grew suspicious when Sirat, an early riser, did not answer the knocks at the door even after 7.30 am.

Kerala nurses strike: Here is all you need to know

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/what-is-kerala-nurse-strike-wage-war-against-private-hospitals-to-aggravate-4731928/

On an indefinite strike in Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Ernakulam, Malappuram and Kozhikode, the United Nurses' Association in Kerala has said that a march to the Secretariat as well as a statewide token strike would be held on July 11 demanding better pay.

The fight for better wages among nurses in Kerala is set to aggravate with nurses strengthening protest against the government demanding standard wages. The Indian Nurses’ Association (INA) and the United Nurses’ Association (UNA) are determined to escalate their protest without waiting for the government’s industrial relations committee (IRC) meeting to take a decision on the issue scheduled to be held on July 20.

On an indefinite strike in Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Ernakulam, Malappuram and Kozhikode, the UNA has said that a march to the Secretariat as well as a statewide token strike would be held on July 11, according to a report in The Hindu.

“We have no option now. Even if we starve to death we have decided that we will fight this to the end because we cannot survive on this meagre salary in today’s world. In the next few days, 80,000 of us are going to march to the government secretariat in protest and nurses across private hospitals will start boycotting work soon,” UNA chief Jasminsha was quoted as saying by Firstpost.

The INA, however, has decided to go on a hunger strike till their demands are met. By Saturday, the strike was on its fourth day. INA nurses’ stir has hit work in Kannur district since the past three-four days. The stir would be aggravated and taken to Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod from July 8, leaders of the INA said.

“The last IRC on June 27 left it to the government to finalise and notify the minimum wages of nurses. The government has now gone back on its word and is talking about convening the IRC again. We do not need any more discussions, we just want the government to notify the minimum wages based on the recommendation of the committee set up by the Supreme Court, under Jagdish Prasad, Director General of Health Services,” UNA vice president for Kerala, Sibi Mukesh was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

What is the strike all about?

In 2016, a recommendation by a special committee assigned by the Supreme Court had said that all privately owned hospitals with 50 bed plus capacity had to make sure that nurses get salaries at par with those in the government sector. This came after nurses had agitated in 2013. Basic wage for them was Rs 9,500, according to a pay scale revision in 2013. Nurses claim that certain hospitals fail to ensure even the minimum salary.

With hordes of nurses from the state flying abroad for better pay, the profession experienced a boom between 2000-2010. This led to colleges springing up in myriad parts of the state as well as a surge in numbers of applicants, a lot of whom opted for diplomas from colleges outside Kerala, without checking the credentials of the institute.

Nurse associations feel this is when salary discrepancy started. In order to get a two-year experience certificate, they began compromising with less pay. “When I started working in 1987, an MBBS doctor got Rs 1,500-2,000 and nurses got about Rs 1,000.That was the difference. Today, a doctor gets Rs 30,000 and a nurse gets Rs 6,000-8,000 in the first year,” Roy George, Kerala chief of the Trained Nurses Association of India (TNAI) was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

The nurses called for the indefinite strike after talks between the nurses’ union, labour commissioner K Biju and labour minister TP Ramakrishnan failed. While the union demanded at least Rs 18,000, the hospitals have agreed to a minimum monthly wage of Rs 12,000. The strike has come at a time when epidemics and related diseases have claimed over 100 lives.

Brexit effect: UK looks to India again to meet shortage of nurses

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/brexit-effect-uk-looks-to-india-again-to-meet-shortage-of-nurses/story-HxICW7ozfItLw2hkTjHfxM.html

Doctors trained in India are the second largest group in the NHS after those trained in the UK. New visa curbs have cut numbers, but the number of Indian health professionals remains very high.

Britain’s health officials are in talks with India’s Apollo Hospitals to recruit nurses to meet the growing shortage in the National Health Service (NHS), hit by what has been described as an “exodus” of European nursing staff after the June 2016 vote to leave the European Union.

Indian doctors and nurses have long moved to Britain to meet the shortage. In fact, doctors trained in India are the second largest group in the NHS after those trained in the United Kingdom. New visa curbs have cut numbers, but the number of Indian health professionals remains very high.

Ian Cumming, chief executive of Health Education England (HEE) – the national education and training body – told Health Service Journal this week that talks were on with Apollo Hospitals to send nurses who will be provided postgraduate training for two years.

Brexit was one of the reasons Britain was losing nursing staff, he said. Besides training, the Indian nurses will also help meet shortage during their stay here.

HEE and Apollo Hospitals signed a memorandum of understanding in 2015 on sharing staff and training opportunities, which has been used to source general practitioners, the journal reported. England currently has an estimated 40,000 nursing vacancies.

Cumming said: “They are looking for registered nurses working for their organisations who are seeking to get further training in paediatrics, ITU, theatres, A&E, etcetera and they are having a conversation with us on whether the NHS would be able to offer on the job training.

“This would be for a fixed period on an earn-learn-return basis – maybe two years. They work as nurses to get that postgraduate experience and training in the specialities we have in this country.”

Cummings did not mention figures for the number of Indian nurses, but said: “I don’t envisage it being single figures.”

According to him, the biggest problem was doctors and nurses no longer wanting to work full-time. Graduates trained in Britain “have come off the pipeline exactly as we anticipated,” he said.

However, he added: “More people at the higher end of expectations have left and we have seen an increase in part-time working . . . There is no point in just using the training pathway as the solution if we are then losing people.”

NHS in talks to recruit Indian nurses to deal with staff crisis

Sorce: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nhs-in-talks-to-recruit-indian-nurses-to-deal-with-staff-crisis-nvdwzgmnc

The NHS is in talks to bring in more nurses from India as hospitals struggle with an exodus of staff from the EU.

Chiefs are negotiating with an Indian hospital chain to find nurses who would work in Britain for two years in exchange for specialist NHS training.

Ian Cumming, chief executive of Health Education England, said the crisis had been caused by doctors and nurses going part-time or leaving the NHS, not because Britain was not training enough staff.

There are 40,000 nursing vacancies in England and the shortfall is one of the most serious issues facing the NHS. Figures published t

Nursing student ends life in Tamil Nadu

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/nursing-student-ends-life-in-tn/articleshow/59476355.cms

VELLORE: A 17-year-old nursing student allegedly committed suicide in her hostel room at Kagithapettarai near in Vellore on Thursday.

The deceased has been identified as Nalini, daughter of Devanathan and resident of Ambedkar Nagar in Bagayam. She was a first year nursing diploma student.

She was last seen by her roommates when they were getting ready to go to class. Nalini told her friends that she would be late for class.

Around 10.30pm, hostel warden Nathiya found the girl hanging from the ceiling of the room. She immediately alerted the college management and the Vellore north police.
The police rushed to the spot and conducted an inquiry. The police recovered the body and shifted it to the Government Vellore Medical College Hospital for postmortem.

The police found a suicide note from her room. In the suicide not, she had stated that "God is calling me, and I am going to Him."

Nursing student commits suicide in Mumbai

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/nursing-student-commits-suicide-in-mumbai-4826038/

On Saturday morning, while her roommates - who were also doing a nursing course - left to attend classes, she told them she was unwell and would join them later, an officer said.

A 26-year-old woman doing a nursing course committed suicide by hanging herself from the shower rod inside the bathroom of the nursing college of Jaslok Hospital. According to the police, Narayani Awasthi, who originally hailed from UP, was not performing well in her course and had been upset about it.

An officer said that Awasthi completed her graduation in UP and has been doing a nursing course at Jaslok Hospital since 2014. She was into her third year and was staying at a hostel in Jaslok house. She shared the room with five others. On Saturday morning, while her roommates – who were also doing a nursing course – left to attend classes, she told them she was unwell and would join them later, an officer said.

Later, a sweeper came to the room and found the bathroom locked from inside. When there was no response, he alerted hostel authorities after which the bathroom door was broken where they found Awasthi hanging from the shower rod. They rushed her to the hospital where she was declared dead.

The local Gamdevi police was informed about the incident. An officer said, “No foul play is suspected prima facie and we have registered an accidental death report. The body has been sent for post-mortem. We will be recording the statement of her colleagues to find out if they knew the reason that drove her to take the extreme step.” The officer added, “So far, we have learnt that she was not performing well in the course and had been upset about it.”

Zonal deputy police commissioner Dyaneshwar Chavan said, “There is still no clarity on the reason why she committed suicide. An accidental death report has been recorded in the matter.”

A statement from Jaslok hospital read, “Hospital authorities are baffled. The hospital cannot comment on what could have driven her to take the extreme step.” Principal Mangalam said the hospital is disturbed about the news. “It could be that she was under pressure as she couldn’t cope with the expectations of the course.”

Kerala nurses refuse to budge, bent on strike

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/nurses-refuse-to-budge-bent-on-strike/article19280882.ece

The government has made no conciliatory moves to placate the nurses and to end the public health crisis that could be precipitated when the nursing community goes into indefinite strike from Monday.

The High Court’s pronouncement that the government should use Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to dissuade the nurses from going on strike has not shaken the resolve of nurses.

Both INA and UNA office-bearers said the government could arrest the nurses and fill the jails but they would not back down.

“The IRC meeting on July 10 discussed only the wage revision of other hospital employees. As a category of employees with clinical skills, nurses deserved a higher pay scale,” Mohammed Shihab, the general secretary of Indian Nurses’ Association, said.

Even when the private health sector grew as the biggest industry in Kerala, no government had paid attention to the pay and service conditions of nurses.

“The nurses formed independent unions because the trade unions representing hospital employees were not protecting our interests, which is one reason why the government is not interested in settling our strike,” he said

The pitiable pay and service conditions of nurses in private hospitals grabbed public attention in 2011-12 during the first major strikes they organised.

The recommendations of the Balaraman Commission thus appointed by the government to decide fair wages for nurses were never implemented. Instead, an IRC was appointed to fix minimum wages for nurses and other hospital staff

Kerala nurses demand more wages, to go on indefinite strike from July 17

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/80-000-kerala-nurses-to-go-on-indefinite-strike-from-july-17/story-aysGyoxXN0MP1lPFwQBuVI.html

Functioning of private hospitals in Kerala is likely to be affected with an estimated 80,000 nurses deciding to go on indefinite strike from July 17 demanding higher wages.

The private hospital managements said they would be able to provide only emergency services from Monday in view of the protest call.

The United Nurses Association (UNA) and Indian Nurses Association, spearheading the ongoing agitation, said they would intensify their protest from July 17.

Satyagraha protests would be staged at the district headquarters and from July 21, they would shift the focus to secretariat here, a release from the associations said.

The nurses have been on strike since the past few days demanding minimum wages of Rs 20,000 as fixed by the Supreme Court.

Stating that 80,000 nurses would join the ‘total’ strike, UNA president Jasmine Shah said they would not buckle ‘under pressure’ from private hospitals.

Various associations of private hospitals held meetings in Thiruvananthapuram and in Kochi to take stock of the situation.

“The functioning of the hospitals will be affected. We can provide only limited services not involving nurses. There will be limited outpatient services. ICUs will not accept new patients,” said MI Shadulla of Private Hospitals Association of Private Hospitals of India (Kerala) chapter. He said only emergency surgeries would be undertaken.

With the state being gripped by viral and dengue fever, the situation could turn alarming.

“We can function only partially. We have already shut emergency rooms as all of them are full,” Shadulla, Chairman of KIMS Hospital, said.

Describing the situation as ‘unprecedented’, he claimed the 56% hike demanded by nurses was ‘very steep’ and would be ‘a burden’ on mid-size hospitals.

While maintaining that they were ‘sympathetic’ to the cause of nurses, he said the hike would also make health care cost go up, burdening the patients.

Shah said nurses with graduation were taken as trainees in private hospitals and were paid only Rs 6,500 per month.

The protesters are demanding that all the qualified nurses should get Rs 20,000 as minimum salary. By merging the DA with basic pay and declaring a new basic salary of Rs 17,200 is ‘injustice’, they said.

This would mean that a qualified nurse would not get more than Rs 20,000, association sources said

Section 144 invoked tocounter nurses’ strike

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/section-144-invoked-tocounter-nurses-strike/article19289722.ece

Nursing colleges told to deploy students to hospitals hit by stir

Invoking the power under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC), District Collector Mir Mohammed Ali on Sunday issued an order in his capacity as the District Magistrate directing the Principals of nursing colleges in the district to deploy their nursing students to various private hospitals affected by the ongoing strike by the nursing staff demanding wage hike.

In what is viewed as a step to counter the nurses’ strike in various private hospitals in the district, Mr. Ali ordered the Principals of eight nursing colleges in the district to suspend the classes of students, except that of the first-year students, for five days from July 17 to 21 so as to deploy them to the hospitals. The order also listed the number of students to be deployed in the hospitals which also included government hospitals.

The nurses in some of the private hospitals in the district have been on strike over the past 18 days. The magisterial order of the Collector said that the deployment of nursing students was an alternative arrangement as the indefinite strike of nurses in private hospitals from July 17 would severely affect healthcare service delivery.

The order also noted that major hospitals here were reportedly operating at less than 50% of their capacity and were forced to direct patients to government hospitals that were currently functioning at a level considerably higher than their sanctioned strength.

The order said that as “the healthcare infrastructure in the district is already stretched under the burden of water-borne diseases after the onset of the monsoon, the crippling of services at important private hospitals is putting the lives of patients and potential patients at grave risk.”

Moreover, the overcrowding of patients suffering from communicable diseases in government hospitals could lead to a major public health crisis, the order said.

As per the order, the managements of the hospitals would provide transportation facility, food and remuneration in the form of incidental expenses to students at the rate of ₹150 a day each. The District Police Chief would provide necessary protection for the transportation of the students from colleges to hospitals.

Police personnel would be deployed at the hospitals to prevent obstruction of work. College faculty would supervise the students in the hospitals and send daily report to the District Magistrate, the order said.

Students who abstained from ward duty would face disciplinary action, including dismissal, from the course, it said. The order said that action would be initiated by the police against those obstructing the implementation of the order.

Nursing students take to streets in protest for basic facilities at Hyderabad college

Source: http://justicenews.co.in/nursing-students-take-streets-protest-basic-facilities-hyderabad-college/39071

HYDERABAD: Almost 300 students from Medwin College of Nursing took to the streets on Friday to protest against lack of basic facilities that were promised to them at their hostel in Nampally.

With no food, water and electricity, students took the matter to the management. As there was no response, they approached the Nursing Officers Association who initiated talks with the management.

“They have been living like this for last three months. When they approached the management a month ago, they asked them to go for the summer vacation and said that things would be sorted by the time. However, with no response, they approached us,” informed Sushmitha Krupa from the Association.

Following the matter, the Association approached the director of Medical Association, the head of nursing college and police. “The students conducted a strike on Thursday night for half an hour in our presence after which they agreed to meet the students. After the meet, students claim that they were threatened,” added Krupa. Following this, the students protested on the road and some of them also vandalised property, to Krupa added.

The police then intervened and took around 20 students into preventive custody. “The students did not cooperate and hence, we had to take action,” informed A Gangaram, inspector of Abids police.

“Another group of institutions with the same name, Medwin, have agreed to take in these students as the students expressed that they do not want to continue in the former institute,” informed B Vidyavathi, registrar, TS Nursing Council.Students were provided with security from police for Friday night. Medwin management was not available for response.

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.

Theresa May prompts anger after telling nurse who hasn't had pay rise for eight years: 'There's no magic money tree'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-may-nurse-magic-money-tree-bbcqt-question-time-pay-rise-eight-years-election-latest-a7770576.html

India ranks below Somalia and Afghanistan in neonatal healthcare, a study shows

Source: https://scroll.in/latest/838201/india-ranks-below-somalia-and-afghanistan-in-neonatal-healthcare-a-study-shows

The country ranked 154th among 195 countries in providing quality healthcare access to its citizens

Babies born in Somalia and Afghanistan have a higher chance of surviving than those born in India, a study in the medical journal Lancet revealed. According to latest Global Burden of Disease study, India ranks 154th out of 195 countries as far as access to healthcare access and quality are concerned. The country’s rank last year was 143 out of 188 countries surveyed.

The study is compiled by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, an independent research centre associated with the University of Washington, and 2,300 researchers in more than 130 countries.

The country, with a healthcare index of 44.8, fares worse than its neighbours like Nepal (50.8), Bangladesh (51.7) and Sri Lanka (72.8). China, with a score of 74 on the index, has been ranked at 82. Andorra ranked at the top of the list with an overall healthcare index of 95, while the Central African Republic was placed at the bottom with a score of 29.

The areas in which India has particularly failed to deliver are neonatal care, tuberculosis treatment, rheumatic heart disease and maternal health. It performed especially poorly in providing neonatal care and access to TB treatment. In the first category, on a scale of 1 to 100, it ranked 14 in the Healthcare Access Quality index, while in the second, it scored 26 out of 100, lower than Pakistan and Congo.

The study also says that India has not managed to meet its goals in healthcare despite its socio-economic development. The gap between its score and predicted score on the index has increased in the past 25 years.

Three staff nurses of K.R. Hospital transferred

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/Three-staff-nurses-of-K.R.-Hospital-transferred/article14944071.ece

They led a protest seeking redressal of grievances

Members of the Karnataka Government Nurses' Association staged a dharna in front of the K.R. Hospital here on Friday.

They urged the hospital authorities to set right injustice being meted out to them and set right the anomalies at the hospital.

Shouting slogans, they accused a particular woman office staff of the hospital of indulging in irregularities on different counts. |

They alleged that she had deducted some amount from their salaries while disbursing holiday encashment during November 2010 and then had transferred the deducted amount to her account.

Amounts under the Group Provident Fund were deducted from the salaries of the staff nurses during April 2008 and December 2009 but they were not deposited to their respective GPF accounts, they said.

The protesters said that even before a staff nurse was granted GPF loan, instalment amount for three months was deducted from her salary.

The protesters said that they were being harassed and they had brought it to the notice of the Medical Superintendent three months ago.

According to Shivamma, president of the Karnataka Government Nurses Association, Mysore district, K.R. Hospital premises, they have records to prove their allegations.

The protesters also alleged that there was a delay in giving time-bound promotion to a nurse who had undergone an operation, arrears were not paid to another nurse who was promoted and there were differences in the salary amounts deposited to the bank accounts of certain other nurses.

Meanwhile, a press release from the office of the Medial Superintendent of K.R. Hospital said here on Friday that three staff nurses working at the hospital had been relieved and transferred to their mother department, the Health and Family Welfare, Ananda Rao Circle, Bangalore. The nurses who have been transferred are: Shivamma, president of the Mysore district branch of the Karnataka Government Nurses' Association; Ratnamma, general secretary of the association; and Alice Florence Crasta, treasurer of the association.

Nurses fly out to greener pastures, Karnataka hospitals battle staff crunch

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/Nurses-fly-out-to-greener-pastures-Karnataka-hospitals-battle-staff-crunch/articleshow/52393220.cms

Bengaluru: Ten nurses and hundreds of patients a day . The 120bed ESI Hospital in Indiranagar, which is flooded with people suffering from rabies, tetanus, measles and chickenpox through the year, is battling severe staff shortage. With all senior staff nurse posts lying vacant for years, things go for a toss during rainy season when dengue and chikungunya cases go up. The situation is no better in other government and private hospitals in the state.

This year, the health and family welfare department of Karnataka has recorded 2,118 vacancies of nurses and 1,504 of paramedical staff in government hospitals.So where all the nurses? Most of them are migrating abroad for better pay and work conditions, say experts.

"We are struggling to manage the hospital given the inadequate staff. Things go out of control during peak seasons, but we somehow take care of patients. The health department has asked us to outsource nurses, but that requires a lot of time and money.The existing nurses may be skilled, but seniors are a must to tackle patients with severe infection," an employee of the ESI Hospital said.

According to Dr Upendra Bojhani, assistant director at the Institute of Public Health (IPH), Bengaluru, India remains a major source of qualified nurse practitioners to many countries. "While better pay is a driving force for nurses leaving the country , there are other factors, including dissatisfaction with the work environment, lack of recognition and respect they deserve in the healthcare system and negative social attitude towards the profession."

Echoing the same, Dr Sudarshan H Ballal, chairman at Manipal Hospitals, said: "Most of them prefer to work in West Asia and the United States, stay there for a few years and come back to India.They do this for financial stability as well as better recognition.Working abroad not only improves their bank balance but also brings good exposure. When they return to India, it's easier for them to get employed in reputed hospitals," he said. 

Once a staff nurse, always a staff nurse in Karnataka's NIMHANS

Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/2017/may/12/once-a-staff-nurse-always-a-staff-nurse-in-karnatakas-nimhans-1603925.html

BENGALURU: “The sleeping position of comatose patients in the ICU needs to be changed every two or three hours and talcum powder needs to be applied on their backs so that they don’t develop bedsores,” said Neelavathy A M, ward supervisor at NIMHANS. She has been working here for 31 years.

Staff nurses and ward supervisors say
the cadre system at NIMHANS has been
detrimental to their career
growth | nagaraja gadekal

There are two wards in NIMHANS - psychiatry and neurology. While the neurology ward has trauma cases with spinal and head injuries, the psychiatric ward has patients with mental disorders. “A nurse tending to a patient in the psychiatric ward should have eyes even behind their head to guard against assault from aggressive patients,” said Shankarling I R. He’s been a staff nurse for nine years.

In a nutshell, the commitment that is wanted of a nurse in NIMHANS is different from one in a general hospital.

NIMHANS is the only government hospital of its size in India that is dedicated to neurology and psychiatry, making a nurse’s job a challenging one. Yet, it has a cadre structure that is detrimental to a nurse’s career growth. A 20-year-old graduate in BSc nursing who joins as a staff nurse may retire as a staff nurse at 65, even if she has a PhD degree.

Unlike All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; PGIMER, Chandigarh; JIPMER, Puducherry or Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, (which are autonomous institutes of national importance) there are only three levels in NIMHANS - staff nurse, ward supervisor, nursing tutor.

National health policy 2017: A road map for health

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/national-health-policy-2017-a-road-map-for-health/article17521458.ece?homepage=true

The National Health Policy 2017, which the Centre announced this week after a nudge from the Supreme Court last year, faces the challenging task of ensuring affordable, quality medical care to every citizen. With a fifth of the world’s disease burden, a growing incidence of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, and poor financial arrangements to pay for care, India brings up the rear among the BRICS countries in health sector performance. Against such a laggardly record, the policy now offers an opportunity to systematically rectify well-known deficiencies through a stronger National Health Mission. Among the most glaring lacunae is the lack of capacity to use higher levels of public funding for health. Rectifying this in partnership with the States is crucial if the Central government is to make the best use of the targeted government spending of 2.5% of GDP by 2025, up from 1.15% now. Although a major capacity expansion to produce MBBS graduates took place between 2009 and 2015, and more initiatives were announced later, this is unlikely to meet policy goals since only 11.3% of registered allopathic doctors were working in the public sector as of 2014, and even among these, the number in rural areas was abysmally low. More health professionals need to be deployed for primary care in rural areas. Availability of trained doctors and nurses would help meet the new infant mortality and maternal mortality goals, and build on the gains from higher institutional deliveries, which exceeded 80% in recent years.

Contracting of health services from the private sector may be inevitable in the short term, given that about 70% of all outpatient care and 60% of inpatient treatments are provided by it. But this requires accountability, both on the quality and cost of care. No more time should be lost in forming regulatory and accreditation agencies for healthcare providers at the national and State levels as suggested by the expert group on universal health coverage of the Planning Commission more than five years ago. Without such oversight, unethical commercial entities would have easy backdoor access to public funds in the form of state-backed insurance. It should also be mandatory for all health institutions to be accredited, and to publish the approved cost of treatments, in order to remove the prevailing asymmetry of information. For the new policy to start on a firm footing, the Centre has to get robust health data. Currently this is fragmented because inputs from multiple sources and sample surveys are not reconciled, and the private sector is often not in the picture. To reduce high out-of-pocket spending, early deadlines should be set for public institutions to offer essential medicines and diagnostic tests free to everyone. This was estimated in 2011 to require a spending increase of only 0.4% of GDP, which is within the 2.5% that the Centre is talking about.

AIIMS nurses go on ‘mass casual leave’

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/aiims-nurses-go-on-mass-casual-leave/article17505025.ece?homepage=true

Over 2,000 nursing staff stayed off from work demanding better wages.

Emergency services remained non functional, while Operation Theatres are conducting only essential surgeries in the country's largest medical Institute — All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) — where over 2,000 staff nurses have proceeded on mass casual leave on Friday demanding better wages.

Chaos and harassed patients who come here from across the country remained at the receiving end who were unaware of the strike call.

Though the hospital authorities claimed that they are “doing their best to ensure minimum discomfort to in-house patients and that all support services are functioning,” they added that the nurses absences from work has hit patient care badly.

Harish Kumar Kajla, president, AIIMS nurses Union said: “Our demands aren't new. For over a year now we have been only assured that our demands for better pay will be looked into, however, the Institute has failed to take action on what it promised us. The Institute is responsible for the strike today. Also if our demands aren't addressed we will proceed on an indefinite strike from March 27.”

“Much like the doctors, we too are working long hours in extremely hazardous conditions. We are hurt by the second class treatment given to us by the government and Institute,” said a nurse, who is participating in the strike.

The nurses are protesting against the discrimination by the Seventh Pay Commission.

“We are protesting against the retrograde recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission. Our demand is that the entry pay grade for staff nurses should be enhanced to Rs 5,400 from the existing Rs 4,600 and the nursing allowance should be enhanced by Rs 7,800. Besides, risk allowance and night duty allowances should be given to all nurses as it is given to all other Government employees,” said Mr. Kumar.

Meanwhile, patients claim that most were returned on Friday morning with doctors stating that only essential medical care is being offered at AIIMS.

“We were asked to go to Safdarjung Hospital when we reached the AIIMS emergency with my father who has been battling a failing kidney and is currently running high fever and is disoriented. We don't understand how the hospital as big and important as AIIMS can just shut out patients,” said Sharda Massi from Andrews Ganj.

Doctors, patient’s escorts clash at GH

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/doctors-patients-escorts-clash-at-gh/article17488650.ece

Trainee doctors, medicos block Poonamallee Road

Tension prevailed at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGH) on Thursday as trainee doctors and post-graduate medical students along with other doctors blocked the arterial Poonamallee Road demanding action against some persons who assaulted a few doctors on duty. Patients and their attendants also protested inside the hospital, condemning the agitating medical doctors.

A heavy posse of police personnel was deployed to bring the situation under control. Additional Commissioners of Police M.C. Sarangan and A.K. Singh and other officials rushed to the spot. The agitating trainee doctors and PG medical students squatted on the road and refused to budge for nearly two hours even as the top police officials tried to pacify them. Since it was peak hour, traffic was crippled on the arterial road and the public had to suffer.

It all began with admission of Vijayan (21), a student in a private engineering college in Melmaruvathur. Some of his family members and friends, numbering around 20, reportedly barged into the ward he was admitted at 4.30 p.m. Reportedly, he had posted some derogatory message against the college administration on social media and the suspicion was that he was beaten up by someone working in the college.

Dean’s complaint

The FIR said a case had been registered based on the complaint given by the Dean of RGGH on behalf of trainee doctors/PG medical students. They said while they were on duty, the relatives and friends barged into the ward.

First, a duty nurse and then doctors opposed their entry.

They told them that all but one person would have to move out of the ward. Infuriated over this, the visitors abused them. Trainee doctors — Raguram and Aftab — politely asked them why they were behaving in such an aggressive manner. The visitors manhandled another doctor Vinodha.

Later a scuffle ensued between them. In the melee, the crew of a few television channels, who came to the spot, were roughed up.

Angry trainee doctors and PG medical students rushed to the old Dean office, where a section of doctors/ students was on protest demanding the release of a senior medical professor Dr. Sudheer, who was lodged in Lucknow jail based on a fabricated case.

All of them suddenly blocked the road in front of the Rajiv Gandhi General Hospital and squatted on the road, demanding action against the persons who attacked them.

Police personnel had a tough time convincing them to disperse from the spot. Only after an assurance was given by the police officers, the doctors agreed to move away from the road and continue the protest inside.

Two-tier security sought

P. Balakrishnan, State secretary of the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association, told The Hindu, “We demanded that the police ensure such incidents do not recur. The safety and security of doctors should be guaranteed. The police should provide a two-tier security system here.”

The police booked a case against the attackers for offences, including rioting, wrongful restraint and voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the T.N. Medical Service Persons and Medical Service Institution (Prevention of Violence and Damage or Loss to Property Act. 2008.