Staff alleges unlawful amendment by PGI to Leave Rules,deprived of child care leave The PGI Nurses Welfare Association will hold a protest for long standing demands. As a mark of protest,the nurses will wear black badges from April 9 (Monday) to April 14 and the association will resort to further agitation till the demands are met by the PGI administration. The PGI Nurses Welfare Association,on Saturday,held a press conference in this regard to highlight the demands of nursing cadre working at PGI. Briefing mediapersons,the president and general secretary of the association Lakhwinder Singh and Hemant Kumar respectively said that despite several reminders and meetings with PGIs director and Medical Superintendent of Nehru Hospital,PGI the demands of nurses have not been accepted by the authorities. They said that the authorities are violating the rules and regulations enshrined in central services rules and have snatched the facilities provided to employees under these rules. They stated that Rule 43 C of the central services (leave) Rules 1972 has been unlawfully amended by the PGI administration and the female nursing staff has been deprived of child care leave to which they are entitled to under the said rule. The nursing staff of PGI has been demanding the change in their designation from sister grade-I and sister grade-II to Senior Nursing Officer and Nursing Officer,which is well within the powers of PGI administration. Further they said that the post of Chief Nursing Officer is lying vacant for the past 5 years but is not being filled. The special area allowance on the pattern of AIIMS is entitled to nursing staff working at critical places such as emergency ward and operation theatre etc. This allowance is not regularly paid to nursing staff. The association has been demanding increase in post B Sc and M Sc nursing seats for nursing staff working in PGI but so far this demand has been ignored by authorities. The association had been demanding recruitment of more nurses so that the extra burden imposed on nursing cadre is reduced.
