ANM nurses stage protest outside Bihar CM's residence

Services in government health centres in Bihar were badly affected on Tuesday. Hundreds of contractual ANM nurses gheraoed the CM Nitish Kumar's residence and staged a protest for their long-standing demand for job regularisation.

Patna: Amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, hundreds of contractual ANM nursing staff in Bihar's Patna went on strike in front of CM Nitish Kumar's residence on Thursday over a series of demands including pay hike and regularisation of their jobs.

ANMs, attached to primary health centres and community health centres staged a protest in front of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's residence. The strike by nurses has caused panic in several hospitals in Bihar capital.

An agitated nurse said, "We have been rendering services at the state-owned health centres for many years on a contract basis and are bereft of benefits given to permanent employees. During the pandemic, we are at the forefront in dealing with suspected Covid-19 patients but do not have any insurance cover or compensation package in case of death from the disease due to the contractual nature of our job."

"While the salary was normally paid one or two days after payday, this is the first time that staff had not been paid salaries. If the government does not consider our demands, we will be forced to intensify the agitation into an indefinite strike," she said.

"Earlier, we had informed the state health minister and chief minister about our problems but in vain. That's why we are protesting here in front of CM Nitish Kumar's residence," she added.

Meanwhile, deployed police and security forces started their efforts to convince the protesters. Failing to pacify the crowd, the police personnel resorted to lathi charge in order to disperse them. Police have also arrested several ANM workers for being involved in the protest.