Contract-based staff nurses of the Egam Foundation have presented a petition to the district administration requesting that they be given permanent employments.

Staff nurses working in various departments like the government hospitals, and primary health centre, under contract with the Egam Foundation Chennai since 2013, have filed a petition to the district collector to take necessary action for making their jobs permanent.

These nurses were appointed on 2013 to work as temporary staffs for a contract period of 6 months. More than 2000 such staff nurses work all over Tamil Nadu. Even after the expiry of the contract period, the administration continued to let them work due to acute shortage of manpower. But, they were informed to quit their jobs before September 15.

S. Vanitha, a contract worker with the primary health centre, said, “We were paid Rs.7000 per month during the contract period. All of a sudden, they have asked us to resign.”

Nurses, on contract employment with the Egam Foundation, said that due to the abrupt termination of the contract, they were not given enough time to find a new job and were forced to file a petition with the district administration to continue employing them. They also said that removal of these nurses would have a severe effect on the health services in the state.