Odisha govt urges agitating nurses to rejoin duty

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Thursday appealed to the agitating nursing staffers to desist from protest and rejoin duty immediately due to critical healthcare needs in the state.

As the nurses' agitation entered the second day, the state government, in a statement, said that it has decided to constitute an Inter-Departmental Committee to deliberate on the various issues raised by the Odisha Nursing Employees' Association (ONEA).

"It is appealed that, keeping in view the importance of critical healthcare needs, the agitating nursing officers should desist from the agitational path and resume their duty immediately," the statement said.

The state government issued the appeal after taking stock of the situation arising out of the two-day agitation and the association's threat to go for complete 'cease work' agitation from Friday.

The nursing staffers at state-run hospitals and healthcare centres across Odisha launched a state-wide agitation on Wednesday over their 10-point charter of demands that include the regularisation of contractual workers and scrapping of the outsourcing system.

"The nurses have begun their protest without disrupting emergency medical services," ONEA president Suchismita Dash said and warned that they might opt for 'cease work' from September 27 if their demands were not addressed.