THRISSUR: Upping the ante, the United Nurses Association (UNA) took out a protest march against the management of Aswini Hospital for allegedly humiliating around 290 nurses and forbidding them from joining duty. For the past four days, the association had been protesting against the hospital management for terminating a nurse and serving a notice to another.
UNA state secretary M V Sudheep said a total of 330 nurses work in the hospital of which 290 nurses are UNA members. “The management served notices to two people but terminated only one. The hospital claimed the nurse was terminated after the completion of her training period as she was not qualified enough. But the truth is the nurse is a member of the association and the management was indulging in arm-twisting.” He alleged the management was planning to terminate another 90 nurses who stepped in demanding to reinstate the nurse who was terminated recently.
Sudheep said though the hospital officially asked several others to join duty, they were denied work upon reaching the hospital on Monday. “Today Aswini Hospital has done this, tomorrow some other hospital will follow suit. This is part of a ploy to target striking nurses,” he said. Sudheep said though the nurses have to work as trainees for a year, the management was misusing this provision. After a year, they are removed and reinstated as trainees. Until such practices are done away with, the association will not call off their agitation, he said.
Management denies allegation O P Achuthan Kutty, Aswini Hospital chairman, said there is no grain of truth in the allegations the hospital removed the nurses. Most nurses have not turned up for work and the hospital is being run with the help of just 52 nurses.