Imphal, August 24: Saying that regularising the services of nurses does not rest with the RIMS authority, RIMS Director L Fimate has threatened to take up befitting action in accordance with the instruction of the Ministry of Health in case the contract nurses decide to go ahead with its scheduled cease work strike from tomorrow.

Quoting a ruling of the Supreme Court, Fimate said that no contract employee can be regularised without facing DPC.

As such, the existing 153 nurses must face DPC before they are regularised.

The Trained Nurses' Association of India (TNAI), Manipur State Branch has declared that they will launch cease work strike from tomorrow if the RIMS authority does not drop its plan to conduct written test for appointment of 55 nurses on contract basis on August 26 while the existing 153 contract nurses are yet to be regularised.

Speaking to reporters at his office, L Fimate lamented that even as the representatives of the TNAI RIMS were appealed again and again to call off their scheduled cease work stir during a meeting with RIMS authority today, there was no positive response.

While conveying that the demand for service regularisation of the 153 contract nurses has been forwarded to the Ministry of Health, Fimate noted that regularisation of the nurses at this stage will violate the Supreme Court ruling.

The cease work strike will bring untold hardships to the people, particularly to poor patients, besides damaging the reputation of the medical institute for which many development and improvisations programmes are already in the pipeline under the Ministry of Health, asserted Fimate.

As for the other demands raised by the TNAI Manipur State Branch, such as establishment of nursing college in RIMS, installation of requisite modern equipment, construction of library building, construction of antenatal building establishment of dental college and other development projects will be taken up in the next five years under the Rs 100 crore already announced by the Prime Minister.

Moreover, efforts will be put in to create about 900 regular post of staff nurses, said RIMS Director Dr Fimate.

Considering the Chandel district bandh, the written test for appointment of nurses scheduled on August 26 has been postponed indefinitely, informed Fimate.

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