the goan I network
PANAJI
Informing that next year there will be recruitment of nursing staff in Goa Medical College, the Health Minister Vishwajit Rane assured that preference will be given to nurses who have worked for more than five years on a contractual basis.
The minister also assured that arrears due to these nursing staff will be paid soon.
The 2014 recruited batch of nurses, numbering around 25 and working on contractual basis in GMC heaved a sign of relief as the government gave a written assurance in the court that their salary will be raised at par to other contractual nurses and that arrears will also be paid to them.
These nursing staff were recruited in 2014 with a basic monthly salary of Rs 20,000. Then in 2016, the government raised the salary of contractual nurses to Rs 31,000 per month. The order for this hike was issued on April, 22, 2016 and implemented in the Directorate of Health Services, Dental College and the Psychiatric Hospital.
The order was also implemented for nurses recruited in 2016.
But the salary of these nurses recruited in 2014 was not raised, and they continued to draw the initial sum of Rs 20,000.
Many reminders were sent to Goa Medical College about the disparity in salary by the affected nurses, but GMC administration took no cognisance of the same.
The nurses were told that there were no further orders from the Secretariat about raising their salaries. As a result, these nurses continued working for Rs 20,000 while others drew Rs 31,000 per month.
Some were forced to leave while some joined other workplaces. Those who were still working with the Goa Medical College then approached the Bombay High Court.
When the matter came up for hearing before Justice M Sonak and MS Jawalkar, the advocate general gave an assurance on behalf of the government that their arrears will be paid in two months. He, however, added that regularisation demand of these nurses cannot be considered.
The court while disposing the petition also said that nurses can again approach the HC again for regularisation of their services, if required.
