Pune: Around 450 nurses from Sassoon General Hospital (SGH) withdrew their strike on Monday after a written assurance from hospital dean Dr Ajay Chandanwale. He assured the members of the Maharashtra Government Nurses Federation that the transfer of 10 nurses from the medical college will be stopped. However, members of the federation hinted that the nurses may resume their strike if the assurance is not kept.
Speaking to Sakal Times, Anuradha Athavale, President of the Maharashtra Government Nurses Federation from SGH, said that among 14 medical colleges in the state, only nurses from the Pune-based government hospital were being transferred. “Though we have received written an assurance from the dean, we will wait for a couple of days until we receive an official letter stopping the transfer. If we do not receive the letter, we will resume the strike,” said Athavale.
She added that under labour laws, it is clearly stated that nurses from medical colleges should not be transferred. “These 10 nurses are being transferred to far off cities like Kolhapur, Sangli and others. We are protesting against these transfers and want them to be withdrawn. We did not want patients at SGH to suffer and hence, we have decided to withdraw the strike for now,” said Athavale.
She alleged that these 10 nurses are being transferred because they are from the federation. “Two or three nurses out of these 10 are going to retire very soon. These nurses, as per the labour law, should not be transferred. But these transfers hint that the federation nurses are being targeted,” said Athavale.
She added that these 10 nurses were abruptly relieved from their duty and were not given the chance to hand over their duties to another person. Speaking about the issue, Dr Ajay Chandanwale said that the government has been requested to give a second thought on the transfer of these 10 nurses.
