The government’s failure to implement the Staff Inspection Unit norms for nurses in government hospitals is affecting the quality of patient healthcare and has resulted in nurses not receiving promotion even after around 30 years of service, said the Pondicherry Government Nurses Association on Thursday.
Around 50 members of the PGNA held a protest in front of the Office of the Medical Superintendent, Indira Gandhi Government General Hospital and Post Graduate Institute, demanding that the Puducherry Government implement cadre restructuring and re-designation as recommended in the Staff Inspection Unit (SIU) norms, under the Ministry of Finance. The SIU specifies the ratio of nurses to patients (1:6 in general ward) and nurses to their supervisors.
No promotion irks nurses
T. Bagyavati, vice-president, PGNA, said that nurses with around 30 years of service had not been promoted nor had their nature of work changed in the period.
This has resulted in many nurses entering their service as staff nurses and continuing till retirement as staff nurses, without having the opportunity of being promoted to other roles of Ward Sister, followed by Assistant Nursing Superintendent (ANS), Deputy Nursing Superintendent (DNS), Nursing Superintendent, and finally Chief Nursing Officer. She said that there were only 7 ANS personnel and 4 DNS personnel in Puducherry, which is too few as per SIU norms.
Other categories
“While other categories of medical personnel like Group D workers and doctors move up in their posts, the nurses are at the staff nurse level for almost 30 years.
This cadre restructuring and re-designation has no financial implications but would allow nurses to experience change in the nature of their work,” said Ms. Bagyavati.
With staff nurses continuing in the same role in patient care for years together, immunity levels are low and stress levels are high among nurses, said Ms. Bagyavati. This would affect the quality of patient care, she said.
The 700-strong PGNA had held protests regarding the same issue in 2007 and 2011 as well.
