Nurses working with black badges at GMCH, to go on strike from Nov 29

Nagpur: Staff nurses at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) have decided to wear black badges at work from November 26 to press for their various demands. They will go on strike from November 29 if the government fails to fulfil their demands. The nurses claims that their union leader Dr Manisha Shinde is being illegally transferred from Solapur for union activities.
State secretary of Maharashtra State Nursing Association Sumitra Tote told TOI that the office bearers of their registered union are being deliberately targeted by bureaucrats. “Earlier too, our former state president Arifa Sheikh was transferred and later suspended from Latur GMC for raising a voice for nurses rights. Now, current president Dr Manisha Shinde is being transferred from Solapur. Such actions are being taken to pressurize nursing union activities. We will never let this happen,” said Tote.
The nurses gathered in front of the main gate of GMCH on November 25 and decided to work wearing black badges from November 26. “The transfer in the month of November is considered illegal. Our prime demand is to withdraw the illegal transfer orders of Dr Manisha Shinde,” said Tote.
“We realize that common patients admitted in the hospital have to suffer due to non-availability of nursing staff. But suppressing our legitimate rights of forming a union and raising our just demands cannot be accepted at any cost,” Tote said. Nurses will wait for three days and then resort to indefinite strike if authorities fail to meet their demand of cancellation of their state president’s transfer order.
This is not the first time that nurses are resorting to a strike. In May 2022, they had called for an indefinite strike over different demands. During that strike, the dean had asked interns and residents to work for some additional hours. GMCH has more than 1,071 nursing posts sanctioned, with 200 vacant. Majority of the 800-odd working nurses are attached to the union, which has given the strike call.