NEW DELHI: Around 5,000 nurses working in central government hospitals have threatened to go on a strike against the Centre’s move of diluting a senior nursing post and merging it with a lower rank.
The Union Health Ministry’s decision was vehemently opposed by the nurses, and they have decided to start their agitation from July 22. The date of dharna (strike) is yet to be decided, the All India Government Nurses Federation said.
“We have written many times regarding merger of ANS and DNS and requested to maintain the status quo in all hospitals till the final decision is taken. We also requested for time but no communication as been received till date from your good office. Now no option left for us. So, nurses of all Central Government hospitals have decided to start agitation by wearing of black badges from 22-07-2023. Later on, we will proceed on 2 hours of dharna,” the AIGNF said in a letter sent to the central ministry.
The bone of contention behind the tussle between nurses and the government is an order issued last month. This newspaper broke the story about the order and highlighted the plight of the affected nurses.
According to the order, the ministry has dissolved the post of Deputy Nursing Superintendent (DNS) at four centre-run hospitals, Safdarjung, Ram Manohar Lohia, Lady Hardinge and Kalawati Saran.
The post merged them with the ANS downgrading 40 nursing professionals to a lower rank.