State nurses object to nurses brought from Kerala, hire local nurses first, say state nurses

Mumbai: Various associations representing state nurses have objected to the state decision to get nurses from Kerala over hiring local nurses. “About 1,846 nursing positions lay vacant in Maharashtra as of April 2019 as per communication received from Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER). Instead of hiring nurses from Kerala, the 1,800 nurses who have cleared the DMER exam process and who are waiting to join work should be given appointment letters and recruited for vacant permanent posts at the earliest,” president of the Maharashtra chapter of the United Nursing Association, Jibin TC  wrote to DMER.

He added that employing local nurses from Maharashtra was a “long term, sustainable solution to the shortage of nurses in the state and city, instead of resorting to adhoc/temporary measures such as bringing in nurses from another state.” 

Earlier, on June 1, six associations of nurses, including the UNA, the Jan Swasthya Abhiyaan (JSA), Trained Nurses Association of India (TNAI), Association of Nursing Teachers in Maharashtra (ANTIM), Clinical Nursing Research Society (CNRS), Municipal Nursing and Paramedical Staff Union (MNPSU), had shot a joint letter to Mumbai municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, raising objections on  remuneration as well as recruitments of nurses, apart from many other issues like lack of health protocols being followed leading to health hazards for nurses. It stated that 1,800 verified candidates, who were screened earlier in April 2019, were available for recruitment now.

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Maharashtra has 49, 696 active cases of Covid-19, and with 127 casualties due to Covid in the state as on June 12 and the state hospitals are overburdened. Surekha Sawant, state president of the Trained Nurses Association of India told thenews21.com that the varying pay scales offered to nurses was also an issue. “While the nurses from Kerala were paid Rs 30,000 per month, the salaries of our own nurses who were working on bonded contract were slashed from Rs 45,000 pm to Rs 25,000 right in the midst of the pandemic. Also, while the BMC’s jumbo facility has sought nurses for Rs 50,000 pm, a Cooper Hospital advertisement offered just Rs 30,000 pm.

Recently, the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) had issued ads for nurses with just Rs 17,000 as salary. We protested and got them to withdraw it.” Sawant says that while getting nurses from other states during disasters was a routine practice, hiring long-term outstation nurses while ignoring local available staffers was not the norm. “We have travelled to places like Odisha, Bhuj to help them during natural disasters. But, these are temporary measures and resorted to only after you exhaust your available resources,” she says.