Injustice anywhere is threat to justice everywhere (Martin Luther King)
Few months back the ISIS reign in Iraq was talk of the town. Then they started talking about something else. The rescue of 45 Indian nurses in Iraq & the scandal of another batch that want to go right back. This ambiguity poses some serious questions about the situation of nursing in India.
A wider mass of society has curtailed nursing as a mere paramedical work of assisting physicians, caring patients and no other major responsibility. Thanks to cinemas and TV series that stereotypes them to be “a young lady who wears a white satire, seductive skirts and comes carrying injection tray”. Some extols them with the term “angel” while for others they are sisters (Nuns or khud ke behen).Behind these specious visuals there is a story of struggle and injustice. The suicide of 22 year old Malayali nurse, Beena baby in the year 2011 stirred nationwide protests. Due to high work pressure and meager salary, Beena decided to resign but the hospital authorities asked her to remit Rs. 50,000 to release her seized educational certificates or work in the same condition for 2 years as the bond system demands. This triggered her to take this extreme step. This was not the first time such incident had occurred as this discussion was already rife on social networking sites, among employees and students about the cruel atrocities of the so called hospitals. Soon for the 1st time in history a registered union for nurses was formed in India named UNITED NURSES ASSOCIATION (UNA) under the leadership of a male nurse Jasmin Sha. Sudeep Krishnan one of those who had quit nursing to become a rubber tapper, took on the role of UNA’s Secretary. They were able to galvanize strength through support from nurses across the country. Boycotting duties, strikes, protests etc., became widespread. In some places like Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi they tried to suppress it through physical force by employing goons and gundas. A Christian missionary (Little flower eye hospital) in Angamally tried to polarize the issue stating the holiness of profession was marred by other religious communities. Despite all such efforts their mettle were not put down, the Kerala government had to impose ESMA(Essential Services Maintenance Act) to pacify them to continue their usual duties and in no time Balram committee was formed to study nurses’ grievances like salary hike, shift system and better working conditions.
The revolutionary attempt no doubt had its share of impact but the issues are still snowballing. According to senior CPI(M) leader and former Health minister PK Sreemathi “Even in a progressive state like Kerala ,the nursing council was formed only a few years back. This itself shows the negligence shown by authorities towards nurses “. Pk Thampi former President, Kerala Nursing Association argues ”Many big private hospitals pay around Rs. 10,000 for doctors as incentive for each surgery they perform. But not a single paise is given to nurses who support them through the hour long operations”. He also rightly says that private hospitals deny night shift allowances and other social welfare schemes. Due to these impediments well trained and skilled workforce fly abroad seeking better opportunities leaving behind a huge vacuum of quality health services in India.
There is a corporate lobby to fill this vacuum created. Mushrooming of nursing colleges lacking basic amenities and resources produce unskilled nurses. They are employed in private hospitals in return for lower wages. This is evident as it can be found that diploma, graduate and post graduate nurses work with same salary, moreover most of private sectors do not have extra pay allowances for specialized nurses who work in settings like ICU and OTs. This can pose grave danger to patient services. Hence it is high time the nurses, government, health care authorities, education sector and society as a whole come together to lionize and resolve the plight of these angels so that they can continue to effectively cure plight of diseases in patients.
