West Bengal nurses protest against 'pay-scale discrimination'

Nurses took to the streets again in Kolkata after holding off for months on any demonstration. On Thursday, a group of nurses held a protest march in Kolkata saying the state government, despite having promised earlier, failed to eliminate the “pay-scale discrimination” they faced.

Coming together from different parts of the state, the women, who were in their 20s and 30s, walked for about three kilometres in the heart of the city in the scorching afternoon heat, carrying placards and flex banners.

The quiet procession was a sight quite different from the hyperactive, theatrical political rallies.

According to them, unlike another diploma- and degree-holders, nurses were paid at much lower scales. “Under grades of payment, there is a disparity. The scales offered to nurses are lower than the ones offered to candidates qualified at the same levels in fields other than nursing,” said Bibha Maity, sister-in-charge at a government hospital in south Bengal, who participated in the march.

After a similar protest a year ago, the state government had agreed to consider nurses’ demands, said Bhaswati Mukherjee, state secretary of Nurses Unity—a platform that was at the forefront of Thursday’s agitation.

Although there was another protest in November last year, the nurses were assured action in their favour. Thus, when things remained unchanged, the nurses had to stage an agitation, reiterating their demands in public again, a protesting nurse said.

According to Mukherjee, while trained nurses were awaiting jobs, there was also an immediate need for them to be recruited into state hospitals. Nurses were also expected to do other hospital duties, which were not even part of their defined roles.

“The norm is that there should be one bedside nurse for every three patients, and for the special unit, it’s one per patient. There’s a need for more nurses in the hospitals,” Mukherjee said.

Maity, on the other hand, said that the demand had been there for years. The demand was made several times when the Left was in power in the state, but no action was taken.

“This time the government has considered the same, but action is awaited. Another point that the nurses have raised is respectable treatment. A confrontation or speaking up could invite transfers,” Maity claimed.