Ma Su hands over appointment orders to 977 nurses

CHENNAI: Health Minister Ma Subramanian handed over the appointment order to 977 nurses at the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University, on Monday.

The identification and verification of the nurses was done for the nurses and an appointment was made on Monday.

All these nurses had served in government hospitals during the pandemic based on ad hoc appointments and were terminated after their contracts ended. The appointment of the rest of the 1,389 temporary nurses would be done after the appointment of 977 nurses.

Handing over the appointment orders, the health minister expressed his gratitude towards the nurses for their service during the pandemic. "The nurses, like other frontline workers, had served in various terrains and in extreme conditions, which will never be forgotten. Even as thousands of people suffered and succumbed to the COVID-19 infection, the healthcare workers had shown courage and patience while serving the people, " he said.

Initially, the District Health Society in 38 districts was instructed to provide incentive marks to the nurses but they had requested an appointment through the Medical Recruitment Board. We suggested that it was favourable for the nurses to be appointed in their respective districts.

However, they were worried if they will miss out on the MRB appointment and 2,366 nurses were relieved from the District Health Society. Currently, 977 vacancies have been identified as arising vacancies and are being appointed, other nurses will also be appointed in a similar way. The permanent appointment will be made based on seniority.

He said that the counselling has been conducted for all the nurses but 20 of them have already requested for transfer. Many of these people have their personal reasons for the same and thus, we undertake transfer counselling for transparency in transfers. We will undertake the counselling for transfers, as and when possible.

So far, 11,734 doctors have benefitted from the transfer counselling in the State, while 9,535 nurses, and 9,628 other healthcare workers have benefitted from this. A total of 30,897 healthcare workers have been transferred by the department through counselling.