Rajasthan: Mass leave by nurses to hit healthcare facilities today

JAIPUR: Healthcare services across the state will be disrupted on Friday as nurses are all set to go on mass leave for a day and gather at the Ramlila Maidan in Jaipur. This strike will encompass nurses from sub-centers to community health centers, satellite hospitals to medical college-affiliated hospitals.
Hospitals will take services of resident doctors, nursing students, community health officers and contractual nursing staff to minimize the impact of nurses' absence for patients' care.Those patients who are stable have been discharged from the hospitals to reduce the burden.
Government is taking measures to make alternate arrangements especially for ICUs and emergency services. Approximately 50,000 nurses are expected to boycott work, highlighting their dissatisfaction with the Congress government's unfulfilled promises from their 2018 election manifesto. The nurses' long-standing demands remain unaddressed.
"We will distribute the copies of the election manifesto of the Congress party for the 2018 elections. They have not fulfilled their promise. Besides, our 11-demands are pending," said Narendra Shekhawat, one of the nurses leading the protest.
Throughout the day on Thursday, the administration of medical colleges and attached hospitals, chief medical health officers, superintendents of hospitals, principal medical officers of hospitals will ensure that medical services and care of patients remain unaffected due to the strike. In the absence of nurses, resident doctors will help in taking care of the patients.
"We have asked all the heads of the departments to assign resident doctors for patients' care. Also, we have written to the nursing superintendent to provide us nursing students," said Dr Achal Sharma, medical superintendent, SMS hospital.
He said, "We are ensuring that our emergency facilities and ICU facilities including emergency in trauma centres remain unaffected. We have made alternate arrangements for that."
Since contractual nursing staff are not employees of the government as they are deployed through the private contractors, the hospital administration is not allowing them to take mass leave.
"We have issued a letter that contractual nursing staff will not join the mass leave," said Dr Vijay Singh, chief medical health officer (Jaipur).
"Academic and non-academic resident doctors will be available for taking care of the patients," said Dr Leeneshwar Harshvardhan, medical superintendent, Gangori hospital.
In other districts too, hospitals have taken alternate measures. "We will take help from junior resident doctors, senior resident doctors and contractual nursing staff and nursing students," said Dr Praveen Chaturvedi, principal medical officer, Bikaner.