Mumbai: Admitted to Sir JJ Hospital, Mumbai Central two weeks ago, Israr Mohammad (48) is now waiting for the ongoing nurses’ strike to end, so he can undergo a coronary angioplasty procedure, performed to open clogged heart arteries and restore blood flow to the heart muscle.
The small-time businessman from Wadala said though he is not facing any inconvenience in terms of patient care, his hospital stay has gotten prolonged because of the indefinite strike called by the Maharashtra State Nurses Association.
“I was admitted here two weeks ago after the test showed that my coronary arteries were blocked. I underwent an angioplasty to insert a stent last week, and they were supposed to place another stent this week. But it’s been postponed owing to the strike,” said Mohammed, who is admitted to the fourth-floor cardiology ward.
JJ hospital is one of the three state-run hospitals where nurses have gone on an indefinite strike after the government refused to accept their demand against the outsourcing recruitment of nurses on a contract basis to fill 1700-odd vacancies. The hospital has 1126 nurses on strike.
Being a weekend, state-run hospitals wore a deserted look on day one of the indefinite nurses’ strike. At GT Hospital, Crawford Market, a handful of senior nurses who are part of the old union that didn’t strike work, supervised nursing students posted in the wards along with resident doctors.
“Our president is not convinced with the idea of going on strike. We agree that outsourcing should not happen. But patient care should not suffer. We are therefore working,” said a senior nurse from the hospital.
The nurse, who has been in service for 25 years, is one of the 50 nurses at GT Hospital who is part of the Federation Union, one of the two unions of the nurses and the oldest one. At GT Hospital, 300 nurses are on strike. “Our weekly off has been cancelled. We are working long hours supervising student nurses. We hope the demands are resolved at the earliest and our protesting colleagues return to work at the earliest,” said the senior nurse at GT Hospital.
On normal days, a nurse would look after four patients. But with nurses on strike, the GT hospital administration said one nurse is responsible for the care of 12 or more patients.
“No new admissions are being taken unless there’s an emergency case. No elective surgeries are also being performed. Currently, patients are being discharged if they have recovered. The patient load is, therefore, less and manageable,” said Dr Bhalchandra Chikhalkar, medical superintendent, GT Hospital.
With the strike entering into the indefinite phase, a student nurse said their routine has changed with extended work hours and no lectures. “Earlier, we had morning duties in the ward followed by lectures from 12 pm- 3 pm. Now we have been divided into three groups and are working in shifts. We are getting to learn and be supervised by senior-most nurses,” said a student nurse at GT Hospital. Around 70 student nurses are presently posted in various wards of the hospital.
Dr Pallavi Saple, dean of JJ hospital, said as of now, they are managing well with the student nurses. “I had a meeting with all heads of the departments yesterday and they said there are now issues at present with patient care. We are not admitting patients for elective surgeries as they have been kept on hold for now,” she said.