Terminated nurses protest outside Telangana CM's camp office, agitation to intensify

HYDERABAD: Hundreds of nurses, who were recently sacked from various government hospitals, protested outside the Chief Minister Camp Office in Hyderabad's Begumpet, on Wednesday, July 7, 2021, and demanded their reinstatement.

The hour-long protest was thwarted by stringent police action. More than 100 nurses were detained and sent to various police stations across the city.

The protest, however, continued at Liberty Junction, where the remaining nurses demanded justice.

“We had left our jobs in corporate hospitals that paid up to Rs 50,000- Rs 70,000, to work in the government sector, in hopes of getting job security. However, the opposite has happened and we have been turned away like dogs. At 11.30 pm, on July 5, they (the State government) issued a notice to the hospital superintendents to terminate us and by the next morning, at 6 am, those of us who turned up at hospitals for routine duty were rudely sent away. Is this how you treat Covid-19 warriors,” asked a protesting nurse.

The nurses said that CM K Chandrasekhar Rao has betrayed them as he had promised that no outsourced staff hired for Covid-19 work will be sent away. “The government hospitals in Telangana still have around 4,000 vacancies for nurses. We want a confirmed notification that we will be taken for those jobs just as the CM had assured us when he came to Gandhi Hospital in May. Until that is confirmed, we will not stop our protest,” said Ajay E, a nurse who worked at Gandhi Hospital.

Several nurses demanded reinstatement not just for job security but for the closure of losing family members due to the risky task. “I contracted Covid twice, once in August 2020 and once in April this year. In April, my mother also got Covid because I could not afford to stay in a hostel. Within 10 days, before my mother could recover, I had to join duties,” said Kavitha Mantri, another nurse.

The unrest is likely to grow bigger as terminated staff from seven colleges in Adilabad, Mahbubnagar, Nizamabad and Warangal districts will pour into Hyderabad on Thursday, July 8, to join the protest.