Contractual nurses sit on a dharna at PMCH on Sunday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Ajay Kumar Yadav, 22, a patient at the emergency wing of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) felt helpless after being admitted on Sunday.

Ajay, a resident of Bhagwanpur village in Siwan met with an accident early on Sunday morning. He was taken to PMCH at around 7.30am.

However, till 3.30pm, he was left unattended as a strike by the contract nurses entered its third day on Sunday.

“We admitted Ajay around 7.30am today (Sunday) but doctors came to check on him in the afternoon only. Ajay’s left leg was broken in the accident and doctors put the plaster on his leg around 3.30pm,” said Ashok Kumar Yadav.

Khurshid Khan, a relative of one Lallu Khan, another accident victim admitted in the emergency wing of PMCH, said: “Lallu had a serious head injury after he fell off the roof on Saturday. We admitted him to PMCH last night. While one nurse came in last night, another came on Sunday morning to see Lallu. After that, no nurse has come to check him. We had to fit the bottle of saline water on our own. We got to know from officials that regular nurses are doing their duty. Contract nurses have called a strike owing to which the problem has been created. Hospital authorities need to make alternative arrangements,” said Khurshid.

Similar was the scene at NMCH. “My daughter-in-law Nilima was admitted with stomach problems today morning but no one has attended to her so far. Nurses are not available,” said Uma Devi (61).

Bithika Biswas, the leader of contract nurses, said chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Saturday called them for discussions but it was futile.

“We went to have a word with the chief minister but he was not present. Our demand to is to regularise our services without any condition. We don’t want to appear in any interview,” she said.

“We had asked to provide 60 auxiliary nurse midwives (ANM) at the hospital but so far we have not been provided a single ANM worker,” said Dr Sudhanshu, deputy superintendent, PMCH.

Sources said altogether 181 contract nurses joined the strike at Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital (ANMCH), Gaya, on Saturday seeking regularisation of their services. ANMCH deputy superintendent Kameshwar Mandal claimed that services had not been affected.

Deepak Kumar, principal secretary, health could not be contacted despite several attempts.