Fearing opposition from the nurses, the administration of Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) has put the issue of their interdepartmental transfer on back-burner.
The Medical education department under which the GDMC works had directed the hospital administration to issue letters to the nurses of State health services working in the associated hospital of medical college to inform whether they want to become part of medical college or want to remain in their parent department.
Following the order, the hospital administration had issued letters to the nurses on June 15 asking them to inform about their decision within three days. However, not even a single nurse has submitted her decision to the college even after 23 days of issuance of the letter.
The president of the Uttarakhand Nurses Association, Anjana Bhowmick, who is also deployed in the hospital, said that the option letter issued by the hospital was not complete. She said the department should initiate a proper process for transfer of services as the issue is very complicated. It is learnt that the nurses want status quo on the issue as selecting either of two options would make them vulnerable for transfer from Dehradun.
When contacted, the Medical Education Director Dr Ashutosh Sayana told The Pioneer that the nurses would have to provide the option. He informed that similar options were demanded for the nurses of nursing schools. The director added that he would look in the matter.
There are 138 nurses of State health services which are working in the associated hospital of GDMC. After the creation of GDMC and subsequent merger of the Doon hospital and District women hospital, the health department had sent these nurses on deputation to the associated hospital of GDMC.
The total requirement of the nurses in the associated hospital of the GDMC is 175.
After taking this option from the nurses the medical college had planned to initiate a recruitment drive for nursing staff. As per the guidelines, an associated hospital of a medical college should at least have 20 per cent male nurses while DGMC at present only has two males in the nursing staff.