Nurses call off strike after govt agrees to their demands

In solidarity with the state association, nurses at Sassoon General Hospital too had joined the protest for the past five days

After protesting for five days, the United Nurses Association, which is a state-wide nurses association in Maharashtra, called off its strike after the state minister for medical education Amit Deshmukh promised the nurses that their demands would be fulfilled.

The nurses at Sassoon protest in solidarity with the state wide protest launched by nurses association to highlight various issues including no new recruiting for the past few years, no grade pay at per central government scale, promotion, workplace safety including violence through patient’s relatives in Pune. (HT PHOTO)

The primary demands of the nurses included pay raise and recruiting new staff.

In solidarity with the state association, nurses at Sassoon General Hospital too had joined the protest for the past five days.

Manisha Shinde, state president for United Nurses Association, said, “These nurses have been on strike for a few days. We note that the nurses are confronting the same concerns faced by nurses across the state, including the demands for safe patient care staffing, adequate planning by the hospitals to ensure a safe environment to reduce workplace violence, and an end to government attempts to have more contract nurses.”

Shinde said that since the past few days beginning from June 21, the nurses had started the protest.

She said, “On June 21 and 22 we just had a two-day strike and then since June 23 we have been on a complete strike. We spoke with Deshmukh who has agreed to implement all our demands with immediate effect except those that need a nod from the finance ministry which too he has agreed to put up in our favour.”

The nurses at government hospitals including BJ Medical College and Sassoon General Hospitals were on a strike shutting down all services except the emergency services.

One of the demands of the nurses was also to provide ₹50 lakh as ex-gratia to the families of the deceased nurses on the same line as given to doctors and also jobs to the family members as per the qualification.