Chennai: Making a demand for a permanent position in the Government Service, more than 400 staff nurses based in Tamil Nadu, had opted for a hunger strike on Thursday to protest against the government.
The hunger strike had been a result of the non-compliance of the previous demands of the protesting nurses. Only after a meeting with the Director of Medical Services followed by an assurance regarding the matter, made the protesting nurses take a pause.
The Director of Medical Services has further promised the nurses that a meeting with the Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan would soon be arranged.
The protesting nurses had been recruited by the Health Department during the ongoing crisis that had emerged from the Coronavirus pandemic last year. All the nurses recruited by the State Government had cleared the written examination and had been on the waiting list. However, their position never had become permanent and they only got an extension of two months following the completion of their tenure of six months.
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While commenting on the issue, R Sindhan, Joint Secretary, Tamil Nadu Government Contract Nurses Association told the New Indian Express, "During the Covid crisis in May, the Health Department, recruited over 3,000 staff nurses on Covid duty -who had written the Medical Recruitment Board exam and were on waiting list. Now, even after the six months tenure they have been given an extension of two months. So we request that these staff nurses get into government service."
"Over 200 nurses were infected while on duty. The Health Department can make our posting permanent as the department has many vacancies," said a staff nurse who has been working in Government Medical College Hospital in Chennai for six months.
Another staff nurse had mentioned to the daily, "For around five months I stayed in the hostel leaving my children behind. We took it as a challenge and worked. We are also eligible staff nurses as we appeared for Medical Recruitment Board and was on the waiting list. So, there should not be a problem in observing us into government services."
Meanwhile, the Director of Medical Services S Gurunathan has informed NIE, "Appointment with the Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan will be fixed soon. They have given representation that under special consideration their request for permanent post should be considered. They will be discussing the same with the Health Secretary."
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