Maharashtra nurses suspend protest after government's assurance

Nurses of Maharashtra's government run hospitals have called off their strike after receiving assurance from the state government.

The nurses of Maharashtra's government run hospitals were on strike against the state government's decision to outsource the recruitment of nurses. On June 1, 2022, they called off their strike after the government assured them of looking into their demands by July 15.

Nearly, 20,000 nurses in the state including 1,400 in Mumbai were on strike against the government's decision.

Maharashtra State Nurses Association (MSNA) which has 25,000 members across the state, went on an indefinite strike from May 28. In Mumbai, 1,400 nurses from St George Hospital, JJ Hospital, GT Hospital, and Bandra Public Health care centre participated in the strike. The government has accepted one of their demands to remove mandatory transfers of nurses.

After meeting with Maharashtra's Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh on Wednesday, MSNA said, "The discussion was positive and after a written assurance to address the demands by July 15, we have decided to postpone our agitation."

“We met medical education minister Amit Deshmukh who agreed to look into our demands by July 15. We have decided to resume work. If our demands are not fulfilled by July 15, we will go back and strike,” said Sumitra Tote, secretary, MSNA.

MSNA's protest for withdrawal of outsource recruitment

The nurses association urged the Directorate of Medical Research and Education (DMER) to withdraw its decision to outsource recruitment to 1,700 odd vacant posts on contract basis. DMER has said, it is a ‘temporary arrangement’, as reported by Hindustan Times.

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