Bhubaneswar, Sept. 9: Odisha Nursing Employees' Association staged a dharna here today demanding an impartial probe into the death of infants at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Postgraduate Institute of Paediatrics, also known as Sishu Bhavan.

"We condemn the government's move to suspend two nurses and transfer two others. It is quite unfortunate. The government should immediately withdraw the suspension order and reinstate them with immediate effect," association general secretary Srimati Sahu said.

No one should blame the nurses for the deaths, the association said.

Sahu said that the report of the director of medical education and training (DMET) had pointed out that the deaths occurred due to managerial and administrative lapses.

"The committee headed by the DMET has pointed out that there was no clinical negligence as far as treatment is concerned. Keeping the report in mind, it will be proper for the government to lift the suspension order," he said.

The association alleged that the nurses were being subjected to a lot of additional work.

"Though we have been working round the clock, the state government is not sympathetic to the cause of the nurses. There are a lot of discrepancies in their salary structure. All these anomalies should be removed," Sahu said.

The association alleged that even though they were entitled to holidays like other government employees, they were not able to avail of them because of work pressure. They also urged the government to recruit more nurses in hospitals.

The association said if their demands were not fulfilled by November, they would be forced to resort to cease work.

"We will take a decision to this effect at the state-level nursing meet scheduled to be held on November 14," the association general secretary said.