Nurses protest, demand withdrawal of T.N. government’s staff reduction measures

Nurses affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Nurses Empowerment Association on Tuesday staged a demonstration on the premises of the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services (DMS) in Chennai to put forward their long-pending demands.

The association’s office-bearers met the Director of Medical and Rural Health Services and submitted their petitions. One of their key demands to the directorate was to immediately withdraw staff reduction measures and the redeployment of nursing posts being implemented under the guise of a restructuring exercise.

There is an acute shortage of nurses in the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, government hospitals, and government medical college hospitals.

The government should create permanent nursing posts in existing hospitals and newly established hospitals based on patient load and recommendations of the National Medical Commission and the Indian Public Health Standards. It should create new Nursing Superintendent Grade III, Grade II, and Grade I promotional posts.