Hyderabad: Barely two month into 2020, declared by the WHO as the Year of The Nurse and The Midwife, the nursing community in Telangana does not appear to be happy about how it is generally treated by not just doctors, but also at times by attendants and families of patients they take care of.
The general secretary of the Nursing Officers Association Telangana, Laxman Rudavath, says that it is common to see nurses “being treated badly. We have nurses who have completed four years of medical education. Some have also earned their Doctorate degrees in Nursing but are still not given the respect they deserve. Workplace harassment is quite common in almost every hospital.”
A nurse in the Government Hospital in Janagaon district, Perumandla Kavitha says: “Doctors do not treat us with respect; they always look down upon us. We are treated like slaves.”
Nurses are critical supportive professionals, she says, and “we deserve respect. If we are treated with respect, and the world sees us being treated well, there will be even more demand among youth to become nurses.”
Gomathi Gajenderan, who works at a hospital in Banjara Hills, says: “We are not getting the recognition we deserve. Most hospitals are understaffed. The patient-nurse ratio as laid down by the Indian Nursing Council is not followed anywhere in India. Under such conditions, nurses find themselves under a lot of stress. Many times we work extra hours without breaks and are not adequately compensated for this. Sometimes, we don’t even get time to drink water. Still we are seen as seen as lesser professionals.”
