Nurses protest in Kolkata, say West Bengal health dept ignoring demands

Nurses in one of Bengal’s premier public hospitals have been sitting on a protest for the last eleven days. They allege that there is a glaring disparity and deprivation in terms of the pay structure offered, and despite presenting their plea before the bureaucrats and representatives in the state health department, the grievances have not been addressed.

Protesting nurses, including those on a daily hunger strike on a turn-by-turn basis, have continued to mount pressure on the state’s health administration. While the dharna site is the nursing superintendent's office premises in SSKM Hospital, nurses also took to the adjoining streets a day earlier.

Parbati Paul, president, Nurses Unity, told DH that the pay-scale for nurses is lower than those of other diploma holders. “Nurses have 10+2, plus three years of training. They are paid at level-9. Diploma-holder engineers have class X+three years of training, or class XII + two years of training, yet they get paid at level-12, a higher pay. This shows how deprived we are,” she said.

Nurses claim that the pay structure is determined on the basis of education, training, experience, and responsibility, and while nurses should have been offered more on the basis of these parameters, this has not happened.

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In July-August this year, a similar protest was taken up to draw the attention of the health administration. Meetings took place at the highest level, and nurses decided to wait for results. After three months, there isn’t a visible move. This has brought nurses back to a protest platform.

Nurses Unity, the group that’s leading the protests, sees a recent transfer of 35 nurses as a means of punishment for those who had supported the cause. Some have been offered remotest locations. The group feels that it is to curb such efforts.

Over 1,000 nurses from different districts visit the venue daily to express their solidarity, says Parbati, claiming that 30,000 nurses are being represented through their platform.

“There are other problems too, concerning our daily work and duty hours,” said Bhaswati Mukherjee, secretary, Nurses Unity.

Chandrima Bhattacharya, minister of state, health and family welfare, and Dr Ajay Chakraborty, state’s director of health services, couldn't be reached for comment.

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