The strike call given by a union of nurses attached to government-run hospitals in Maharashtra evoked mixed response on the first day on Saturday with most of the other outfits in the sector maintaining a distance from the stir.
However, officials admitted that some hospitals did face problems, including postponement of some surgeries. While surgeries like insertion of stents were postponed in state-run JJ Hospital here, which was considerably affected,there was little impact of the strike call by the Maharashtra State Nurses Association on other facilities like St George, Cama and Albless and Gokuldas Tejpal hospitals in the city, they said.
They added that most of the nurses who are part of MSNA are from JJ Hospital, due to which the premier facility in Byculla area was affected much more than others. Speaking to PTI, Sumitra Tote, MSNA general secretary, said, "We had called a strike on May 27 and 28. However, there was no concrete assurance from the state government, hence we decided to continue our strike further.
"We are completely against the recruitment of Class IV staff and nurses on contract basis, as there is no job guarantee and the state will have no control over contractors who are known to pay less than stipulated wages. The state government has not cleared allowances of several months of nurses," Tote added
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