Demanding regularisation of their services, members of the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) Stipendiary Staff Nurses Welfare Association are on a relay fast at Banappa Park.
Association president B. Manjunath told The Hindu the Medical Education Department had ignored their plea for regularisation and issued a notification calling applications to fill the posts of 720 nurses, paramedics and lab technicians. Some 12 of the 450 protesters who developed weakness and health problems were treated at Victoria Hospital, he said.
The stipendiary nurses had been working for the past five to six years in the four hospitals — Victoria Hospital, Vanivilas Hospital, Bowring Hospital and Minto Eye Hospital — coming under the BMCRI, on a meagre monthly stipend of Rs. 7,000. The association, through several agitations, has been demanding regularisation of their services for the last few years. “However, under directive from Medical Education Minister S.A. Ramdas, the department issued a notification on January 7 to fill the 720 posts.”
