Dehradun: The agitating candidates have expressed their pain and dissatisfaction in a very emotional manner, demanding major changes in the nursing recruitment process in Uttarakhand. To ensure immediate fulfillment of their demands, the protesting nursing candidates have submitted a touching letter written in their own blood to the Chief Minister, in which they have expressed their anguish and uncertainty about the future. The letter written in blood is a symbol of their pain and struggle. After the demonstration, when the candidates felt that their voices were not being fully heard, they took this extraordinary step in a moment of extreme frustration and determination.
Candidate Kajal said, ‘When our general appeal was ignored, we had to resort to our blood to prove our existence. This is not just a letter, it is a document of our years of penance and fear of the future. These nursing candidates had been on the streets waiting for recruitment for years, but they say that the current process has sidelined their qualifications and experience. This moving performance and the letter written in blood, is a deeply emotional call to the state government to not only consider these demands, but to be sensitive to the future of healthcare and the youth of Uttarakhand.
Recruitment on the basis of exam, not year wise
The nursing officer from Pauri says that he has been serving for many years and he has been waiting for many years with the hope of recruitment in government hospitals, but even if recruitment comes, it will not be on the basis of year wise but on the basis of exam. He said that the candidates of the same batch have been recruited in the government, but we will not get the opportunity for year-wise recruitment. He said that one person from the 2014 batch has joined a government job and another is protesting here.
Served by staying awake day and night
He said that a person comes to the hospital when he is physically distressed. Along with serving the patient, we also encourage him because we are emotionally connected to him. We serve by staying awake day and night, so that the patients can recover quickly and return to their families, but today we are away from our families and are here on the streets to express our problems to the government.
He said that we have still not left our work. We have come here after taking some time off from duty. He said that if the nursing staff from all the hospitals take to the streets, then the entire work of the hospital will come to a standstill. Ajit Bhandari said that he had passed out in the year 2015. They have been waiting for recruitment for many years and are appealing to the government for year-wise recruitment.
Corona warriors on the streets for jobs
Nurse Vineeta, who has been working in a private hospital for the last 8 years, said with tears in her eyes that during the Corona period, when people did not come out of their homes, we used to do duty in hospitals risking our lives. There was a time when no one touched their relatives, we used to serve the patients and stay away from the family. I had to leave my 1 year old son. Many nurses like me left their small children and families and remained posted in the Covid ward. She remained away from her elderly mother and small child for many days. She is a single mother whose husband died five years ago.
She said that only she knows how she is raising her elderly mother and small children in a job worth Rs 13,000. He said that he has waited for this recruitment for many years. Now his age is also about to reach and even if recruitment comes, it will be on the basis of examination. They say how can I prepare for exams or do a job with my small children. He had high hopes from this recruitment, but everything was shattered.
faced with problems
State President of Nursing Ekta Manch Naval Pundir said that we have been trying to make the government aware of our problems for the last several days. The protest site was also made away from the city, so that the voice of the nursing community could not reach the government. He said that our demand is that the portal released after the written examination should be closed as soon as possible and the recruitment process should be conducted year wise like before, because it is unfair to deprive seniority by imposing an examination on the careers of health workers who have been serving for years. He said that during Covid, our work was appreciated and flowers were showered from the helicopter, but today we are sitting on the streets with our demands.
