Nurses of private hospital in Odisha capital allege harassment

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Sep 25:

Scores of nursing staff of a private hospital in Odisha capital late on Thursday night staged demonstration in front of local police station and put up road blockade alleging mental and physical harassment by the hospital authorities.

Over 200 incensed nurses of city-based Apollo Hospital late on Thursday night knocked the doors of local police seeking action against the hospital authorities accusing them of mentally and physically harassing them. They staged demonstration in front of Infocity police station and later blocked the road demanding action against the erring staff.

They alleged that they were being made to work for over 12 hours a day and being threatened of dire consequences when they raise 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 by the nurses, the hostel superintendent reached the spot at around 11pm 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. The hostel superintendent S.Supreet Jaikumar has also denied all 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 shall be resolved soon.