CHENNAI: The members of the Tamil Nadu Nurses Empowerment staged a one-day hunger strike at Swami Sivananda Salai on Wednesday against the state health department’s decision to recruit nurses for government hospitals on 11-month contract basis. The association demanded that the government fulfil its poll promise of regularising their services.
Around 200 nurses participated in the hunger strike. The association also opposed the decision to post nurses on temporary basis for six new nursing colleges. Earlier, the health department recruited only through the Medical Recruitment Board (MRB), now the district administration has been made to recruit the nurses on contract basis, they said.
The health department, in its order on September 11, decided to recruit 4,724 nurses on 11-month contracts. The National Health Mission-Tamil Nadu (NHM-TN), through the District Health Society, has invited applications for the recruitment.
