Hyderabad: Retrenched nurses denied permission to go on fast

Hyderabad: The specially-appointed outsourcing nurses whose services were terminated recently by the State government were not given permission to take up a hunger strike against the 'injustice' meted out to them.

A group of 1,640 nurses who are fighting for their rights have no leader and facing difficulties to assemble on a common platform to arrive at a solution for their problems. They alleged that the police have been rejecting their pleas to allow them to stage a protest.

Decrying the attitude of the government, Health and police departments, an outsourcing nurse, Anitha, speaking to the The Hans India said, "All the government bodies are against us. The concerned head of the department of Medical education is not allowing us to meet him. He is stopping us from entering the premises. The policemen also keep monitoring our activities and not allowing us to meet. The department is rejecting our request for staging a hunger strike. We have applied to at least in five police stations in city, including Cyberabad Commissioner's office. But, all our requests have been rejected."

Adding that protesting against injustice was a basic right, she criticised the police for their intervention. "The police followed us to the State Human Rights Commission and they followed us to Gandhi Bhavan when we went to submit our representation," she claimed.

"We are feeling helpless as there is no support from any union or NGO. Nobody is coming forward to help us. We are not forcing the government to regularise our services; we just want us to be allowed to work as per the contract that was extended by the government till 2022. How far is it correct to terminate us suddenly?" she questioned. According to nurses, the sudden termination has resulted in financial problems as majority of them have not been paid for three months. A few of them have been paid two months' salary, with dues of one month.

According to officials, the contract mentions that the nurses were being appointed on outsourcing for one year during the pandemic. It is clear that they were appointed on contract and could be removed post-pandemic. Yet everybody had signed the contract.