SHILLONG, July 11: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) Employment Monitoring Cell has threatened to initiate protests against the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) against what they claim to be an ambiguous and biased recruitment process for staff nurses.
The KSU has accused the DHS of manipulating the selection process, ignoring qualified candidates, and favouring those with influence.
In a letter to the DHS, the KSU aired its concerns, saying, “The Union on the 17th of May, 2024, vide letter bearing Ref.No. KSU/CEC/EMC/12, expressed its discontent over the short-listed candidates’ names published by the DHS (MI) for the walk-in interview of 325 staff nurses.”
The KSU alleged that the list was fraudulent and prepared under undue influence.
According to the KSU, despite repeated demands for transparency, the DHS has not provided the marks of all candidates and has re-advertised the 325 staff nurse posts without clarifying the reasons.
“The post of 325 staff nurses was re-advertised on 08.07.2024. The Union questions why these posts are being re-advertised if the previous short-listed candidates list is genuine and true,” the KSU stated.
The Union also mentioned that it did not receive a reply to its RTI application that sought the disclosure of the candidates’ marks.
Alleging that the DHS has not advertised permanent staff nurse positions for years, the KSU said there are allegations that the authorities convert the contractual staff to permanent positions only after they can pay a certain amount of money.
The Union criticized the current advertisement for being unfair, as it does not accept experience certificates from private institutions and charges an application fee of five hundred rupees.
The KSU demands that this fee be waived, and the DHS compensate candidates for wasting their time and effort.
Listing their demands, the KSU called for a clarification on the re-advertisement of the 325 staff nurse posts, action against PIO and employees who failed to provide RTI information, action against the recruitment committee if the previous list is found tainted, publication of marks for all candidates who applied for DHS posts, acceptance of experience certificates from private institutions, waiver of application fees for the re-advertisement, permanent appointments for staff nurses instead of contractual ones, et al.
The KSU warned that if these demands are not met, they will escalate their stir.
