Chandigarh: PGI nurses threaten to protest if demands not met

“Our protest will be completely non-disruptive and we will continue to do out duty peacefully while we wear black badges. But it is high time authorities take our genuine demands and concerns for ourselves and our families seriously and respond adequately. We are supposed to be the backbone of any healthcare system, so the least they can do is respect our demands or at least speak to us regarding this,” said a member of the association, on the condition of anonymity.

The association’s main demand is regarding the withdrawal of new guidelines suggesting updated regulations for quarantining of healthcare staff at PGIMER, which gives nurses a period of five days to quarantine themselves post their duty in the Covid-19 ward. Furthermore, these five days of quarantine will have to be taken out of their monthly quota nine leaves, while earlier nurses were allowed to quarantine for seven days post their Covid-19 duty. These seven days were also not counted as part of their regular leave days.

The nurses are also demanding the implementation of an order issued by the hospital in May, 2019, which increased their pay benefits in accordance with the sixth pay commission. “This order was retracted by PGIMER on July 17 because they were under pressure by higher authorities,” alleges Vinod Kumar, a nursing office of PGIMER and Vice President of another faction of the Nursing Union at PGIMER. Meanwhile, PGIMER had in their July 17 order stated that the pay fixation has been kept in abeyance till the time they receive a clarification from the central government