NIMS Protest: Gates Shut on Nursing Officers

Hyderabad: Gates were shut on nursing officers of the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (Nims) on Monday as they continued their protest over workload issues, demand for restoration of medical benefits for parents of contract nurses, and filling of vacant posts, among others.

The nurses have been holding protests for the past week, sitting in protest daily for an hour before resuming duties while wearing black badges. On Monday, the nursing officers sought permission to undertake a silent walk of about 100 metres within the hospital premises, wearing black badges and without raising slogans

Nims Nurses Union president S. Asha Latha said the institute required nearly 2,000 nurses, but was operating with only about 300 permanent nurses and 700 on contract.

She added that contract nurses had been receiving a monthly salary of Rs.32,500 for the past 10 years without revision. She also pointed out that the permanent cadres include nursing officer, senior nursing officer and nursing superintendent.

General secretary T. Krishna said that all gates were shut on Monday and the nurses were made to wait for about an hour. “Later, the administration called us to discuss our demands. Health minister Damodar Rajanarsimha interacted with union members and assured them that a review would be conducted to resolve the issues,” he said.

In a formal intimation submitted to the Nims director, the union stated that despite repeated written representations, personal meetings and continuous follow-up, there had been no constructive response from the management, leading to growing dissatisfaction and unrest among nursing officers.

The key demands include settlement of earned leave (EL) encashment as per executive board approvals, implementation of Central pay scale benefits without anomalies, and enhancement of gratuity to `16 lakh in line with the state GO issued in November 2021.

The union has also sought three months of childcare leave for women employees, permanent recruitment to fill existing vacancies, and a cadre review of clinical nursing officers and nursing college staff.

The nurses highlighted acute staff shortages, high nurse-patient ratios and excessive administrative workload and demanded immediate recruitment to ease the burden.They also called for hassle-free employee health check-ups, uninterrupted supply of prescribed medicines, and restoration of healthcare