GMCH-32 nursing staff hold protest over pending demands

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 16

As many as 550 members of the nursing staff of the GMCH-32 today held a protest rally on the hospital premises for over two hours and even burnt an effigy of the hospital management. They were demanding that their long-pending demands be accepted.

Giving information, Vijay, president of the nursing staff, said for a long time, they had been demanding that their demands be fulfilled.

Their main demands, he said, includeed long-pending promotions, pay on a par with nursing staff of the PGI and the GMSH-16, nursing care allowance, filling up of sanctioned posts, accommodation, access to the hospital canteen and parking lot, among others.

“There are 707 sanctioned posts in the hospital and a staff of only 550. The patient-nurse ratio of the hospital is dismal,” he rued.

He added that a meeting to discuss their demands was called by the Director-Principal of the GMCH-32 last week. “We were handed over the minutes of meeting (MoM), which, as always, promised us our rights. But we do not know when the management will fulfil our demands,” said Vijay, adding that he would sit on a hunger strike from January 23.

The protesters, meanwhile, said the patients did not suffer any inconvenience due to the protest.

“Even though we were protesting, we made sure the patients did not suffer. We continued to work in the hospital and participated in the protest rally by turns,” informed the president of the nursing staff.

Meanwhile, Dr Atul Sachdev, Director-Principal of the GMCH-32, termed the protest was ‘unnecessary’. He said the demands that were justified would be fulfilled.

“They are making unjustified demands. We held a meeting last week, wherein, the demands were discussed in detail. The representative of the nursing staff even signed the minutes of the meeting, accepting the terms. Holding a protest, thereafter, is unwarranted,” he said.

However, Dr Sachdev, , said the patients did not suffer due to the protest.