Why can't the temporary nurses' contracts be regularised before hiring new permanent ones?

It took the 450 nurses nine days of agitation along with a short stay in jail for some of them to finally get a reaction from the powers that be to respond to the situation. Medical education minister SA Ramdass claimed that his hands were tied and it wasn t his decision to make but promised to bring the issue to the cabinet s notice.

On Jan 7, the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute had issued a notification to hire 720 permanent nurses and paramedics. This outraged the nurses who were working there on a temporary basis for the last four years! BMCRI has issued notification to hire 720 persons for nursing and paramedical sections. When we are here, why can t they regularise us and then hire the rest of them? said L Veena, a member of BMCRI Staff Nurse Association.

They believed the BMCRI is doing this to get grants. When MCI officials come for inspections and they show them 600 permanent staff, they will give them grants. There is a stiff shortage of staff in BMC and if they want to hire more people, they can. But if they want to hire nurses on permanent basis, they must first regularise us, said Shobha TG, another member of the association.

Ramdass promised to bring up the issue. I promise that we will not move the papers on notification to hire the 600 nursing staff on permanent basis for now. We will think about it once the cabinet takes a decision on your issue, he said.

The BMCRI however has already sold 60,000 applications for the posts and received 35,000 applications. The government, the nurses believe should follow the example of the Jayadeva Institute of Cardio Vascular Disease and Research Institute, where 500 contract nursing staff were regularised.

Sadly of the 450 nursing staff members, more than 160 have crossed the age bar to apply for permanent posts. While they ask for experience in every single field, they don t ask for experience for nurses. We deal with the lives of people and experience matters here. How can they have an age bar for us! said another nurse who was clearly outraged at the treatment being meted out to them.