Jodhpur: Nearly 1,000 nurses of 80 private hospitals in Jodhpur declared an indefinite strike on Tuesday and staged a sit-in at the district collector`s office, demanding better remuneration, perks and facilities, and compliance of certified medical practices.
The nurses have submitted a memorandum of 19 demands to the government which include those for salaries at par with government norms, provisioning of Casual and Paid leaves, medical facility for them and their families, etc.
Our strike will continue till all our demands are met, a representative of the Sangharsh Samiti of these nurses, Anil Kumar Chouhan said.
The nurses have also demanded compliance of the Medical Council of India (MCI) norms by private hospitals and also proper auditing of these hospitals, he said.
Meanwhile, Secretary of the Private Hospitals Association, Dr Sunil Chandak termed the strike unfair and said that the demands put forth by the nurses were impractical and unreasonable.
He also alleged that the striking nurses were not skilled and trained staff, but they were demanding salaries at par with the skilled staff.
"Still, we are giving them better salaries and facilities than what has been provisioned by the government," he said.
Chandak also alleged that most of these nurses have obtained their degrees from outside Rajasthan by unethical means or practices.
According to the association, the strike has not affected the functioning of the hospitals as they had already mobilised necessary human resources to deal with staff shortage.
