MUMBAI: Over 1,000 nurses from the state-run JJ, St George and GT hospitals went on a strike on Thursday, forcing the authorities to put all routine surgeries on hold. All planned surgeries in these hospitals remain postponed till Friday as nurses plan to boycot work to protest the state's plan to outsource nursing services.
Around 763 nurses from JJ Hospital and 140 each from St George and GT Hospitals didn't report to work on Thursday. Across Maharashtra, thousands joined the two-day 'stop work' call. The Maharashtra State Nurses Association has warned that nurses will go on indefinite strike from Saturday if the state doesn't call them for talks.
Nurses and nursing students have been protesting since Monday against the state's order of April 13 to outsource hiring of 1,749 of 4,500 vacancies in the state. They also want the government to reverse its order of transferring nurses every six years.
Dr Pallavi Saple, dean of JJ Group of Hospitals, said they could carry out only 26 surgeries till 7pm on Thursday, against the daily average of 70-80. "Nurses have given us a prior notice of two-day strike so we had already deferred planned surgeries," she said. Nurses at Cama and Albless Hospital too didn't join the strike on Thursday.
Arti Kumbhare of the association said they've been assured that the order on transfers may be reversed. "But the government has not called us for any concrete meeting on the decision of outsourcing," she said, adding that they have been pursuing the government for two years with the demands. "The government has left us with no choice but to stop work," she said.
