Scores of nursing staff of a private hospital in the city late on Thursday night staged a demonstration in front of the local police station and put up road blockade alleging mental and physical harassment by the hospital authorities.
Over 200 incensed nurses of Apollo Hospital knocked at the doors of local police seeking action against the hospital authorities accusing them of mentally and physically harassing them. They demonstrated before the Infocity police station and later blocked the road.
They alleged that they were being made to work for over 12 hours a day and being threatened of dire consequences when they raised their voices against it. Besides, they alleged that the hospital is least concerned about their safety concerns.
“We reach our hostel late at night after finishing duty, but the vehicle doesn’t drop us at our doorstep. We walk down quite a distance at night risking our safety. Moreover, the hostel gates are locked by the time we reach our rented accommodation. We wait for a long time till somebody opens the doors. Recently, a nurse was mugged on her way back from the hospital in the night. All complaints to the management have fallen on deaf ears. On the contrary, instead of addressing our concerns, the management has opted to look the other way and threaten us to keep mum,” said an aggrieved nurse.
After getting information about the road blockade, the hostel superintendent reached the spot at around 11 pm and tried to persuade the nurses to withdraw their protest and return to their hostel. However, the nurses were in no mood to budge from their stand unless their demands were looked into.
On the other hand, the hospital management has refuted all allegations. Hostel Superintendent S Supreet Jaikumar denied the accusations of harassment while accepting that the hospital bus drops the nurses at quite a distance away from the hostel gate. He assured that the issue would be resolved soon.