Secretary general of All India ESIC Nursing Officers’ Federation, Jodhraj Bairwa, spoke to Ojasvi Gupta about various problems affecting ESIC nurses. Edited excepts:
How severe is the manpower crunch and is it affecting patient care?
The last recruitment drive in nursing cadre happened in 2018, that too in 2-3 regions. Most regions have not recruited personnel for over a decade. This has resulted in manpower shortage. 70% of nurses working in ESIC hospitals are outsourced. The existing vacancy of nursing officers is alarmingly high and the strain of understaffing is being felt by patients, dependents and hospital staff. With fewer nurses, there is a risk of delayed interventions, which can affect patient outcomes.
Your federation is not in favour of implemention of the new transfer policy. Why ?
ESIC issued a policy for transfer/posting of group A/B nursing & paramedical employees last December. This created uncertainty among the nursing fraternity. The policy is being misinterpreted and it appears that transfer on request and on compassionate ground will not be entertained and only compulsory transfer will be allowed.
What about the pending promotion of nurses in ESIC?
The promotions for 2021, 2022 and 2023 have been overdue after the notification of new recruitment regulation 2020. This has had detrimental impact on promotional avenues for nurses.
No bonuses are being paid to ESIC nurses since 2020. Please comment.
Productivity Linked Bonus equivalent to 60 days of wages is paid to all eligible employees under the labour ministry and other Central government departments. It is disappointing that the bonus is not being paid to ESIC nurses, even though ESIC and EPFO were established by Parliament.