Nearly 17,000 nursing officers of the state-run government hospitals and medical colleges launched a two-day strike on Wednesday, demanding fulfillment of their 10-charter demands, including regularisation of their contract services.
The nursing officers launched the strike under the banner of the Odisha Nursing Employees’ Association (ONEA).
Manoranjan Sethi, a senior member of the ONEA, told The Telegraph: “We have launched a two-day token strike. Today, we cooperated with the authorities. If our demands are not met by Thursday, we will launch a complete cease-work from Friday (September 27th). We will not bow down to government pressure.”
A meeting was held with the office bearers of the Odisha Nursing Employees’ Union (ONEA) in the Health and Family Welfare Department Conference Hall.
The state government, in a release, said: “The office bearers brought to the notice of the Government many issues. After detailed discussion concerning the Nursing Officers, it was assured to them that there will be continuous engagement with them in future and the issues will be considered sympathetically at appropriate times. As theirs is an essential service, it was requested that they should desist from agitational path, withdraw their strike and resume duty immediately.”
“All the Contractual Nursing Officers have been accorded the benefit of service seniority as regular employees at par with beneficiaries of other cadres of Government as per the Repeal Rules, 2022. Around 11933 number of Nursing Officers shall be benefitted to get promotion to the higher level due to cadre restructuring,” the release said.
Health minister Mukesh Mahaling said: “We discussed their issues with the nursing officers. We are hopeful that they will cooperate with the government and call off their strike.”
