DMK convenor and leader of Opposition R. Siva has urged the government to reinstate all nurses who had been appointed on contract basis to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a press note, Mr. Siva said around 240 personnel had been appointed on contract basis as nursing officers and auxiliary nurses when the pandemic was at its peak. These recruits had played a vital part in bringing the pandemic under control in the Union Territory.
However, they were now out of work after their contract, which expired in February, was not extended or renewed. Many of them had left whatever jobs they had to work on contract as it was a government offer, Mr. Siva said.
Now the government is refusing to provide jobs on the ground that the contract period has expired. At the same time, private hospitals are reluctant to offer jobs thinking that they would go away if they get government jobs again. As a result, the contract nurses, who came to help the people and the government during the pandemic period, are left in the lurch.
He appealed to the government to reinstate these recruits, perhaps fittingly so during Nurses Day observance. This would simultaneously alleviate the stress and heavy workload of the regular nurses in the Puducherry health department due to non-filling up of vacancies, the DMK leader said.
