Chandigarh, February 2
There was only one nurse on duty in the neonatal wing on the day of the fateful tragedy at the Government Rajindra Hospital in Patiala in which five infants lost their lives. Today also only one nurse each was deputed for three shifts in the wing.
According to Indian Nursing Council (INC) norms, there should be 25 nurses in the neonatal unit. However, an acute shortage of staff means one nurse alone has to look after the usual 16 or 25 (maximum) newborns in the ward. On the day of the tragedy, there were 10 infants in the ward with five undergoing photo-therapy treatment.
This situation holds true for all other wards in the hospital. Against the needed strength of 750 nurses, there are only 175 nurses working in the hospital at present.
A faulty policy, which allows recruitment of contractual nurses at a pay of Rs 2,790 per month, ensures nurses leave their jobs on the quick. Recently, 175 nurses were recruited on a contract basis but out of these now only 65 remain at the hospital with very few wanting to work on the measly salary decided by the government. There are 110 regular nurses in the hospital.
The nurses recruited on contract have been demanding salary on the pattern of the Health Services Department where nurses are given a gross salary of Rs 9,000 per month. They have held a dharna on the issue in December and despite the fact that the Director Research and Medical Education (DRME) admitted that the nurses should get salaries on the DHS pattern in public interest, the government is yet to decide on the case.
Punjab Nurses Association State president Jeewanpreet Kaur claimed contractual nurses were not getting their pay in time. “In the past three years of this contract policy, the salary of nurses has been released only three or four times,” she said.
Jeewanpreet said in case the government did not start recruitment of nurses on the DHS pattern, the strength of nurses would reduce further in the hospital.
Meanwhile, sources said it was not nurses alone who were leaving the hospital but other contractual employees like radiographers, laboratory technicians, labour attendants, house keepers and clerical staff, etc, were also leaving as and when they found employment elsewhere.
