DIBRUGARH, March 26 ? The nursing profession in Assam has very little to cheer about these days. For months on end, nurses in the three medical colleges of Assam have not been receiving their pay. Though nurses at the Gauhati Medical College and the Silchar Medical College are a little better off, those here told reporters recently that the modern day Florence Nightingales here have been made to feel that their services are of no consequence to the medical profession in general. The AMC unit of All Assam Nurses? Association staged a ceasework agitation for 72 hours from March 18. This was their second in a series of agitational programmes. As of yet, the authorities concerned are yet to lend an ear.
Sister Lila Dutta, president of the association here, said the nurses do not ask for much from the Government, ?All we want is regular payment of salaries, filling up of vacant posts and adherence to norms set by the Medical Council of India (MCI),? she said. As for norms, the deficiencies are quite serious. MCI has stipulated that in a teaching organisation (the three medical colleges in Assam fall in this category), the nurse to patient ratio should be 1:3. The AMC here has 1333 regular hospital beds. On the 1:3 ratio, the medical college hospital here should have 445 staff nurses. However, there are only 164 staff nurses, against the required 445.
With such a woefully deficient patient to nurse ratio, it is quite natural that the existing workforce is being overworked. This has put a severe strain on the efficiency while also exposing them to fatigue. Against this, there is the demoralising aspect of the nurses not receiving their salaries and allowances in time. Worse of all, there are several senior nurses at the AMC here who have been denied their due promotions for 20 years and more! Sister Dutta, herself one of the seniormost nurses in Assam today, appealed to the authorities to spare the senior-most nurses from night shift duties. This duty cycle commences at 7.30 in the evening and ends the following morning at 7.30. She also made out a strong plea for residential accommodation for married nurses and for proper conveyance facilities to carry nurses from their homes to hospital and back. Currently, nurses are transported to hospital and back in ambulances, often by cramping these into Maruti Vans.
With very few in the Government sympathetic to the nurses? cause, this section of the dedicated medical work force are at wits? end, as to what to do. Some of the unscrupulous doctors at the AMC here in fact cashed in during the three day strike from March 18. There is no dearth of unscrupulous medical practitioners here and these told patients and their attendants that they would be better off in private nursing homes, as nurses at the AMC are on a strike and hence they would not receive any treatment! Sister Dutta said : ?We do not want to go on a strike, but do we have a choice,? she asked. She said that earlier, medical college principals used to go on rounds of the hospitals and encourage the nurses and doctors on duty and occasionally writing slips of appreciation. Now a days, there is nobody to appreciate, but many waiting for an opportunity to pull down the nurses, said another activist of the association who requested anonymity.
It is not that all the nurses are not receiving their pay in time. Only those who fall in the ?plan? category have not received their salaries since December 2001. Those who are in the ?non-plan? category are more fortunate. Of the 164 staff nurses here, 38 are under the ?plan? head while the rest are in the other head. Taking advantage of the general lack of knowledge of office functioning, the nurses have been found to be ignorant about procedures relating to GPF and other establishment matters. The unfortunate thing here is that they are also not informed of their GPF account status and similar matters when some of them do go to inquire. The association has also levelled the charge that the nurses? GPF accounts are not updated regularly, nor are their contributions deposited regularly at the bank.
With nurses finding themselves in a no win situation, the association has made out a fervent appeal to the Government to take serious note of their genuine grievances and take remedial measures. The nightingales do deserve a better deal, given their selfless services. Sister Dutta and her ilk are awaiting a kind word from Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.