Gurgaon: Cancel suspension of Civil Hospital staff, NHM workers say threatening indefinite strike

Around 650 National Health Mission (NHM) workers participated in a day-long strike at the Civil Hospital on Tuesday demanding cancellation of the suspension of a doctor, nurse and technician, who are facing inquiry for denying admission to a pregnant woman.

The three were suspended for denying admission to a 25-year-old pregnant woman, Munni, on February 9 after she failed to produce the hardcopy of her Aadhaar card. The woman later delivered a baby outside the emergency ward of the hospital. The incident drew harsh criticism from citizens and members of the medical fraternity.

However, the NHM workers who have threatened that they will go on an indefinite strike if their demand is not fulfilled, said a fresh inquiry must be initiated.

NHM worker Kul Bhushan said, “We have submitted a memorandum to chief medical officer and to the deputy commissioner of Gurgaon urging them to conduct a fresh inquiry.”

“The staff were following the rules, it is not their fault. The suspension order is not fair. We want the health department to cancel the suspension order,” said Hariraj, secretary of the NHM workers union.

NHM workers form the backbone of the state’s healthcare system. They are employed at primary health centres, urban health centres and with ambulance services at government hospitals.

“If the higher authorities fail to fulfil our demand, we will go on an indefinite strike next week,” Bhushan said.

The demand comes in the backdrop of a show-cause notice issued to Dr Mohini, a gynaecologist, nurse Manita and emergency medical technician Manoj on February 15 asking them to explain their action in a week’s time. The trio is expected to submit their replies by February 21.

Meanwhile, the health department said that the probe is still on and they are waiting for replies from the staffers.

“We are following the instructions given by the enquiry committee. We will take necessary action after we receive explanation letters from the staff,” Dr BK Rajora, chief medical officer at the Civil Hospital, said.