Kidwai institute nurses' protest completes a week

Nurses of Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology continued their protest for the seventh consecutive day on Monday.

Over 160 trainee nurses have been protesting seeking regularisation of their jobs, equal pay and identity cards.

However, Dr Krishnamurthy, medical superintendent of the hospital said it was not possible to regularise nurses' service.

"It is not possible to regularise them. They can be only appointed through the state paramedical board after conducting exams and other tests," said Dr Krishnamurthy.

He added that Monday (March 19) was the last day to apply for the nurse's posts on the contract basis.

"I do not think any of them have applied," he said.

The regularisation could only be done through a proper channel and protest would not bear results, Dr Krishnamurthy added.

He said the hospital already had 120 permanent nurses, while 100 nurses from the Victoria hospital and a few other nursing colleges were also asked to provide their services to the hospital.

"We also have 50 nurses from our own nursing college helping us to make up for the shortage," said Dr Krishnamurthy.

Dr Linge Gowda, director, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology said the hospital was functioning at a normal pace.

Not even a single patient seeking treatment has been turned away, he said.

He added that the protesters were sending false messages saying that the ICU was not working while one ICU was closed for fumigation, which is a common procedure.

"We will be recruiting around 150 nurses on contract basis through the board in a week," said Dr Gowda.

The protesters alleged that the governing council was not responding to their appeal.

"We will continue to protest until our demands are met," said Lingappa, one of the protesting nurses.