GMC staff nurses take out rally, demand revised pay grade

Nursing staff members of Government Medical College took out a protest rally against the state government demanding revision in pay grade and promotional avenues here on Monday. The employees, who have been protesting for the last three days, accused the state government of advertising a different pay grade. They said they were not being given the pay grade the government had declared in the recruitment advertisement published.

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The nurses’ association of the college also demanded from the government to bring a one-time scheme for employees who want to shift from the directorate of medical and research to the department of health services and employees.

The association further demanded that the services of nurses, who have worked on a contract basis for more than 10 years, should be considered for promotion. “The service period should be considered for promotion so that the seniority list of the employees could be maintained. In our profession, there are not much avenues for promotion,” said Gurmeet Kaur, a staff nurse.

Raj Bedi Anand, patron of the Government Medical College Nursing Association, said, “The nurses are still not given any dearness allowance. Many other allowances, which were earlier given to health employees, have been stopped.” She said the government is not paying attention to the genuine demands of the employees and forcing them to hold protests.

Anand said they have demanded to arrange a meeting with senior functionaries of the government so that all issues concerning employees are discussed and resolved without them having to boycott public health services.