Para, nursing staff protest in Amritsar, demand regular jobs

AMRITSAR: Paramedical and nursing staff at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital (GNDH) and Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) staged a protest against the state government on Friday.

The protesters demanded regularisation of jobs, timely payment of salaries and the release of dearness allowance instalments.

Around 11.30am, around 100 protestors gathered outside the outpatient department (OPD) of GNDH and raised slogans against the state government. The protest lasted two-hours, during which the protesters suspended all Covid-related duties.

Punjab Nursing Association’s Amritsar edition president Narinder Bhuttar said, “Trade unions had called a nationwide protest against the planned dilution of labour laws in several states and the treatment of workers during the Covid-19 outbreak. Joining the protest, members of the Punjab Nursing Association and paramedical staff boycotted their duties and staged a protest at GNDH.”

“Since the Covid-19 outbreak, nurses and paramedical staff have been risking their lives to treat patients but the state government is not issuing our salaries on time nor are they regularising the jobs of contractual workers,” he said.

“The government is not providing pensions to medical staff who have been recruited after 2004. The government should provide them pensions so that the staff does not have to worry about money in case they get infected,” he added.