NEW DELHI: Scores of nurses and paramedics serving in the city government-run healthcare institutes on contract hit the streets on Tuesday demanding regularisation of their posts — a promise the AAP government made in their election manifesto during 2020 assembly polls.
The healthcare workers gheraoed the Delhi Secretariat to push for their demands. The Delhi Nurses Federation said over a thousand nurses and paramedical staff attended the agitation.
However, they were not allowed to serve the memorandum to the CM or health minister. DNF’s Secretary General Liladhar Ramchandani said that all major government-run hospitals joined the protest including nursing staff from LNJP Hospital, GB Pant Hospital, DDU Hospital, GTB Hospital, among others.
The strike briefly affected OPD services and wards where the workload of non-striking nurses went up. However, emergency and intensive care unit services did not suffer as nominal staff worked to render these two services.
Ramchandani said the government is only ‘dilly-dallying’ the long pending demand with a solution which was proposed by late Sheila Dixit’s government and rejected by the healthcare workers then.
“Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board has announced 1,800 regular posts for nurses, for which written exams will be held. The government has offered an age relaxation policy for the nurses working on contractual basis to qualify in the exam. Is it possible for a professional nurse working for 20 years to compete with a fresher? How can it be justified? There should be direct absorption of contractual employees who have been serving the people for years,” he said.
Ramchandani said the government is not serious about patient care or the plight of healthcare workers. “Only opening new hospitals and ICU units will not solve the problem. Three new hospitals have come up but the staff from other government hospitals has been assigned at these places,” he added.
“The Arvind Kejriwal’s government is not serious about the problems of nurses. We met with Saurabh Bharadwaj but he also did not assure us with any affirmative response,” Ramchandani said.
“We demand review of the ongoing recruitment process of DSSSB to keep vacant sanctioned posts which are presently occupied by contractual nurses and other health employees to secure their jobs and increase the number of vacancies as per current demand of the health care delivery system,” the DNF’s secretary added.
Not allowed to serve memorandum to CM
The healthcare workers gheraoed the Delhi Secretariat to push for their demands. The Delhi Nurses Federation said over a thousand nurses and paramedical staff attended the agitation. However, they were not allowed to serve the memorandum to the
CM or health minister. DNF’s Secretary General Liladhar Ramchandani said that all major government-run hospitals joined the protest including nursing staff from LNJP Hospital, GB Pant Hospital, DDU Hospital, GTB Hospital, among others.