In a bid to tackle the health crisis resulting from the nurses’ strike, a meeting between their representatives and the Chief Minister was held on Saturday, but failed to arrive at any solution, with the nurses continuing their agitation.
At the meeting, Chief Minister Harish Rawat assured the nurses that their genuine demands would be fulfilled soon and that they should resume services.
But the nurses on strike wanted a written assurance if they are to resume work.
However, sources say the strike is likely to be withdrawn by Saturday evening as the CM has accepted the demands.
Some of the agitating nurses sounded happy. Suman Bharadwaj and Anuradha, both nurses on strike, said they would resume work once the notice is received. Silvia, another of them, said she hoped the strike would be called off on Saturday evening and she would go back to work.
However, things looked the same in the State-run hospitals with medical service remaining crippled. Wards, including the ones meant for the children, were seen deserted. In-house patients of the Doon Hospital who keep on suffering because of the dragging strike have sounded sad.
Presently, with the nurses off the scene, the doctors and the intern nurses are somehow managing things. However, the picture remaining dismal, the patients who can afford medical service in the private hospitals keep on leaving. But the economically unprivileged class continues to bear the brunt of the nurses' strike having no option but to stay put there.
Tara Gabriyal, one of the interns, said, "We are looking after the patients as best as we can," Praveen from Mangalore whose daughter is admitted in the hospital said the nurses' stir has landed them in dire straits.
Another Bala Devi whose husband is in the hospital for the past 13 days said they are ill-cared with nobody left there to attend to the patient. "We are helpless. We can ill-afford surgery in the private facilities. We are waiting for the nurses to come back to work," she said.