Maharashtra Nurses’ Strike Enters Day Four; Group-D Staff Threaten To Join, Escalating Healthcare Crisis

Mumbai: Routine surgeries are being postponed across Maharashtra as healthcare services face severe disruption due to an indefinite strike by over 30,000 nurses, which began on July 18 and has now intensified with strong backing from the State Government Group-D (Class IV) Employees Federation.

The striking nurses are demanding the immediate cancellation of the contractual hiring process, 100% permanent recruitment, and prompt filling of vacant posts through promotions.

Their protest also aims to resolve long-pending pay anomalies under the Seventh Pay Commission. The Bakshi Committee, formed in 2017 to implement the pay commission, failed to address pay disparities for staff nurses, sister-in-charges, and nursing tutors — despite two rounds of recommendations.

Nurses allege that despite being frontline warriors during the Covid pandemic and beyond, they continue to be neglected. The government’s circular dated June 6, 2025, announcing fresh contractual recruitment, has further angered the nursing community. A similar move was withdrawn in 2022 after a massive 10-day indefinite strike.

Sumitra Tote, General Secretary of the Maharashtra State Nurses Association, said they demand an end to contractual hiring, 100% permanent recruitment, immediate promotions to fill vacant posts, and clearance of allowances pending for over 40 years.

Backing these demands, the Group-D Employees Federation, led by President Bhausaheb Pathan and General Secretary Babaram Kadam, has formally urged the Chief Minister and other senior ministers to intervene and resolve the matter immediately. The Federation has warned that if the government fails to act, Group-D workers in the Health and Medical Education Departments will also join the indefinite strike, potentially paralysing healthcare services across the state.

The strike, which follows sit-ins and a one-day statewide shutdown earlier this month, has already begun to impact patient care at government hospitals and medical centres, raising fears of a wider health crisis. Nurses have made it clear that they will not call off the strike until all their demands are met.

Although the responsibility of patient care has been handed over to nursing students, if the strike continues for more days, hospital administrations may request the state government to deploy nurses from municipal hospitals to manage the situation.