Condemning the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute’s (BMCRI) decision to deny 409 stipendiary nurses permission to resume work, members of Jana Arogya Andolana Karnataka (JAAK) have demanded that the nurses be reinstated immediately.
Demanding regularisation of their services, the nurses (who were appointed on a six-month contract basis at the BMCRI hospitals — Bowring and Lady Curzon, Victoria, Vani Vilas and Minto), went on a 22-day strike from January 9. The Medical Education Department’s notification inviting applications for the recruitment of 600 nurses set off the agitation.
They withdrew the strike on January 30 after BMRCI said they would be allowed to resume work if they withdrew their strike unconditionally. However, BMCRI’s Governing Council decided against them resuming work.
JAAK co-convener Akhila Vasan told presspersons on Friday that the BMCRI’s decision violated the rights of contract workers. “JAAK is against the grant of autonomy to public institutions, especially healthcare organisations. The nurses should be reinstated in permanent positions with salaries that they are legally entitled to,” she said.
The Labour Departmenton Thursday, directed both parties to work out a compromise formula by February 26.
