Cuttack, July 26: Orissa High Court today asked striking contractual nurses to go back to work immediately and directed the state government to sign fresh agreements with only those contractual nurses who had been appointed under the National Rural Health Mission.
Of the 2,200 contractual nurses, 1,200 are working with the centrally-sponsored National Rural Health Mission. Though the nurses had called off their 11-day agitation on Wednesday, the authorities at the three government-run hospitals — SCB Medical College in Cuttack, VSS Medical College in Burla and MKCG Hospital in Berhampur — did not allow them to join work.
Hospital authorities said that according to their contract, unauthorised absence beyond 10 days meant termination of service. The three hospitals witnessed tension between the authorities and the nurses.
The All-Odisha Contractual Nurses Association told the high court, which took up the case today, that the nurses were being asked to sign fresh agreements.
In an interim order, the division bench of Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice S.K. Mishra observed: “The contractual nurses appointed by the state government will suo motu join duty from today by submitting individual joining reports and the contractual nurses engaged under the National Rural Health Mission will join after signing fresh agreements.”
In an affidavit, the government said: “Though the Essential Service Maintenance Act [ESMA] is in force for a period of six months with effect from March 9, 2012, the contractual nurses have resorted to illegal strike by making illegal demand.” However, the court did not give any ruling on the enforcement of ESMA even though it had asked the state and the nurses association earlier why the Act should not be invoked against them.
The contractual nurses working at the three government-run medical colleges and hospitals abstained from work today even after their 11-day cease-work was called off yesterday. They refused to join duty and sat on dharna alleging that they were being forced to sign fresh agreements.
