Nursing Strike Paralyzes Sassoon General Hospital in Pune
Pune, 15th December 2023: The Sassoon General Hospital faced a significant setback as 600 nurses from the government hospital initiated a strike on Thursday, disrupting the normal functioning of the medical facility. The strike, organized by the Maharashtra Government Nurses Association Pune, has impacted patient care, with only urgent surgeries being conducted during the day. As a result, scheduled surgeries had to be postponed, leading to a considerable reduction in the hospital’s daily surgical output.
Sources revealed that the demands of the striking nurses include the immediate filling of vacant nurse positions, the rectification of salary discrepancies outlined in Bakshi Committee volume 2, raising the retirement age to 60, and the cancellation of privatization and contracting policies. Pragya Gaikwad, the working president of the association, confirmed the participation of approximately 600 nurses from Sassoon General Hospital in the strike.
To mitigate the potential collapse of the patient care system at Sassoon Hospital, the administration took the unusual step of inviting 204 nursing students from private nursing colleges, including those from Sassoon. Among them were 118 students from the Nursing College of Sassoon, 14 from Symbiosis Nursing College, 63 from Bharti Vidyapeeth, and 9 from MINH. Despite these efforts, only eight urgent surgeries could be performed throughout the day. Hospital sources indicated that with the suspension of the strike in the evening, some surgeries might be rescheduled for the night.
The strike also affected nursing services at the District Government Hospital in Aundh, with nursing college students being enlisted to provide support. Thirty trainee nurses from the district hospital and thirty students from Symbiosis Nursing College were engaged to ensure that patient care was minimally affected. District surgeon Dr Nagnath Yempalle reported that scheduled surgeries at the district hospital had been postponed.
Rekha Thite, President of the Maharashtra Government Nurses Association Pune, stated, “Around one thousand nurses from government hospitals in the district, including Sassoon Hospital, participated in the strike. We had to take this step to convey our message to the government. In order not to affect the patient system, the administration had to take the help of student nurses.”
The impact of the strike on patient care and the negotiations between the nurses and the government remain ongoing concerns.
