Nurses launch Statewide protest

Bhubaneswar: Nursing staff at State-run hospitals and healthcare centres in Odisha launched a Statewide agitation on Wednesday over their 10-point charter of demands that include regularisation of contractual workers and scrapping of the outsourcing system. Suchismita Dash, president of Odisha Nursing Employees’ Association (ONEA), said the group has repeatedly presented their demands to the State government but has received no response. Stating that nurses have begun their protest without disrupting emergency medical services, Dash warned that they might opt for ‘cease work’ from September 27 if their demands were not addressed. State Health Secretary Aswathy S held discussions with ONEA representatives to address various concerns affecting nursing officers.Though the Health department assured that their issues would be considered sympathetically at the appropriate time, Dash expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of the meeting and said the association would proceed with their planned agitation.

Meanwhile, the government has urged nursing staff to refrain from further agitation, withdraw their strike, and return to work immediately. Earlier, Director of Nursing Artabandhu Nayak had instructed the heads of all State-run healthcare facilities to take action against nursing staff participating in the ‘cease work’ protest, citing the Odisha Emergency Services (Maintenance) Act, 1988, which is currently in effect in the State.