Elective medical services were disrupted on the second day of the nursing strike throughout medical colleges in Maharashtra. The resident doctors supported the strike and asked the government to look into the nurses demands.

Around 27,000 nurses from state-run medical institutions and hospitals have gone on strike for an indefinite period, protesting the governments decision to outsource recruiting to fill shortages.

The Maharashtra State Nursing Association (MSNA), which started the statewide protest, has two main demands: no outsourcing of recruitment and no administrative transfers of nurses every six years. The government has mostly agreed to the second requirement, according to Manisha Shinde, president of MSNA, but no discussions were held with them about outsourcing. She stated that every nurse among the 27,000 nurses has completely ceased working.

Response to the request for meetings with medical education minister Amit Deshmukh and public health minister Rajesh Tope is still awaited. The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) supported the protest on Sunday, urging the government to examine the demands as soon as possible. MARD representative stated that after two years following the epidemic, medical studies had just started coming on track, but because of the nurses protest, they were once again pulled in to carry out nursing duties.

(ETHealthWorld, 30, May 22)