SHILLONG, May 22: The Hynniewtrep Youth Council on Wednesday asked the NEIGRIHMS director, Nalin Mehta to take steps to appoint experienced and qualified indigenous nurses in the vacant posts.
“As per our information, 40 to 50 persons appointed as nursing officers during the last recruitment drive through NORCET have either not joined/reported for duty or have resigned from the posts,” HYC president, Roy Kupar Synrem said in a petition to Mehta.
He suggested a one-time absorption policy to absorb all contractual nurses serving for a considerable period for these posts.
“Any attempt to fill up the vacant posts from the eligible list of the recently concluded NORCET will not be acceptable to us, as we had made our stand clear during the last meetings with you,” Synrem said.
He further said NEIGRIHMS should make efforts to complete the recruitment process swiftly and smoothly using the OMR method.
“It is also urged that maximum recruitment of male nurses as was done during the last recruitment should be stopped as well as the recruitment of inexperienced candidates as it is a burden and wastage of public money,” he said.
The HYC president said the number of seats for MBBS courses in NEIGRIHMS reserved for Meghalaya according to the admission notice of 2023-2024 was 14 seats out of a total of 50. He said Nagaland has been allotted 10 seats while 18 seats are in the open category for the other northeastern states, including Sikkim.
“The other NE states, including Nagaland, have already started their medical colleges. Therefore, we demand that the seats for Meghalaya be increased from the current session,” he said.
Synrem resented the non-reservation of seats for the youths of Meghalaya in the BSc and MSc nursing courses offered by NEIGRIHMS. These courses have 50 and 10 seats respectively.
“We demand that the institute take appropriate action to reserve seats for the local indigenous youths of Meghalaya from the 2024 session onwards and not base (the admission) on the merit list of the All-India NEET examination,” he said.
He further observed that the changes brought about in the Recruitment Rules (RRs) by putting an essential condition of “Possessing Diploma/Degree in Materials Management/ Warehousing Management/ Purchasing/ Logistics/ Public Procurement from a recognised University/ Institute” through an advertisement on October 17, 2023, by NEIGRIHMS for the recruitment to the post of storekeeper was an attempt to deny the experienced indigenous candidates the opportunity to apply.
Synrem said even institutes like the AIIMS in New Delhi do not put such stringent conditions and recognise the importance of experience for such jobs. “Therefore, we demand that action be taken to amend the above-stated RRs… and stop any further appointment until corrective measures are put in place,” he added.
He reminded Mehta that NEIGRIHMS is situated in a tribal area which is under the jurisdiction of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and as such, the laws, rules, and regulations made by the council are applicable, especially when it comes to trade, service, or business.
“It is imperative that any non-tribal entity providing any kind of service to NEIGRIHMS must have a valid trading licence from the KHADC. It is learnt that recently, the tenders for procurement/purchase, etc., floated by the Store & Procurement Section of NEIGRIHMS do not have a provision for insisting on a trading licence from KHADC,” he pointed out.
He said the person or persons responsible for not insisting on trading licences from the KHADC should be taken to task by the institute.
“We reiterate the fact and our stand that NEIGRIHMS is an autonomous institute situated in the tribal area of Meghalaya to serve the people of the region and the state of Meghalaya in particular. Hence, opportunities should be given to the local indigenous population to get employment as well as for studies in different courses offered by the institute,” he said while urging the NEIGRIHMS director to consider the group’s demands for the welfare of the youth and the state as a whole.
