Nurses mull strike to press for their demands

BENGALURU: I rked by the lack of government response for their pleas, nurses in the city are threatening to go on a strike after the polls. On Monday, 60 principals from various nursing institutions and executive members of Karnataka Nursing Council (KNC) in the city visited the office of Director of Medical Education (DME) to hand over the list of their demands. Nurses say this is the third meeting in a year, and no action has been taken by the authorities.

Council members told CE that they were disappointed that they were unable to meet the DME. “We had taken prior appointment with him, but he refused to meet us.

All 60 EC members were present and we had to pass on our demands through the deputy director,” an EC member said.

“We have made five demands. But we got the usual response that it will be looked into,” KNC vice president ATS Giri said.

Hospitals in the city have been trying to cut costs by employing poorly-paid, unregistered nurses, they say. “This is the state of the nurses and hence, we are planning a strike as soon as elections are over,” another EC member, Girijamba Devi P, told CE.

The DME, P G Girish, who took up the post in January this year, said he was unable to meet the nurses due to election duty. “There is a clear-cut government order about the process of recruitment, and not all their demands can be met,” Girish stated. “As of now, we are trying to improve the quality of education. We are setting up a system for teachers, which will involve biometric attendance, CCTV monitoring during exams, etc,” he said, adding, “We will also call for elections by the end of June, and are forming a Paramedical Board Authority which will govern all nursing institutions.”

Demands from nurses

• Nursing should not be clubbed with  paramedical courses
• Filling up teaching posts vacant in govt/ autonomous nursing schools/colleges
• Implementation of National Registration Tracking System under which every nurse will have a unique ID number
• Conduction of Karnataka State Nursing Council elections
• Creation of directorate of nursing in the state