Team Herald
PORVORIM: Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Friday told the State Legislative Assembly that government is in process of curtailing the number of unpaid leaves (UL) obtained by nurses deployed in various government run hospitals including Goa Medical College and Hospital, by restricting the same only for educational purposes and in case of medical emergencies like child care.
Informing that it is in process of recruiting 120 nurses on regular basis, Rane said efforts would be made to ensure that preferences are given to those working on contract basis.
“We are facing major problems due to the UL obtained by the nurses, who go abroad for alternate jobs for certain period and then rejoin the duty in the government sector. In such cases, we have to opt for contract nurses,” Vishwajit said., replying to a question raised by NCP MLA Churchill Alemao.
“We are now in the process of curtailing the number of UL. We can consider the proposal only for educational purpose and in case of medical emergency like child care. We need to be little stricter on this front,” Rane stated.
Alemao sought to know the number of nurses required for the health sector in Goa and total number currently employed on contract basis. He demanded that government should give preference to the contractual nurses for regularisation on priority basis.
Rane informed the House that the total strength of the nurses is 1347, while 334 nurses are hired on contract basis. “I cannot bypass the recruitment rules and give assurance that the contractual employee will be regularised. But definitely we can work out modalities to give preference to those nurses, who are working on contract basis with enough experience,” he said.
