Chennai, Dec 2 (IANS) Upset with the DMK government for failing to fulfil its 2021 election promise to regularise thousands of nurses working on contract, the Tamil Nadu Nurses Empowerment Association has announced a series of statewide protests beginning this month.

A major demonstration will be held in Madurai on December 4, followed by a statewide hunger strike in Chennai on December 18.

The decisions were announced at the executive committee meeting held in Madurai, where association members expressed strong dissatisfaction with what they described as the continuous neglect of contractual nurses in the state.

In a statement, the association’s general secretary, N. Subin, said nurses form the backbone of Tamil Nadu’s healthcare system, yet their working conditions and job security have been steadily deteriorating.

“We are deeply worried about the current status of nurses in Tamil Nadu. It is distressing that the government terminated nurses who were recruited through the Medical Services Recruitment Board in December 2022,” Subin said in the statement.

He noted that these nurses were appointed on an ad hoc basis amid the Covid-19 pandemic to handle emergency staffing needs. Their abrupt termination, he said, has caused enormous hardship for frontline workers who served during a critical period and expected the government to honour their contributions.

Subin further said the DMK had, during the 2021 Assembly election campaign, promised to regularise around 8,000 nurses employed on a contractual basis. “More than two years have passed, but the promise remains unfulfilled,” he said, adding that nurses who risked their lives during the pandemic are now left in uncertainty.

The association said the upcoming protests aim to highlight the plight of contractual nurses and press the government to act on its long-pending assurances. It demanded immediate reinstatement of all nurses terminated in 2022, initiation of the regularisation process without further delay, and structured talks with nurse representatives to resolve issues related to job security, service benefits, and working conditions.

With no formal response yet from the government, the association expects thousands of nurses across Tamil Nadu to participate in the Madurai protest on December 4 and the hunger strike in Chennai on December 18, marking a significant escalation of their agitation.

–IANS

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