SHILLONG, May 6: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) has stuck to its 10-point charter of demands submitted to the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS).
The student organisation raised the demands again on Tuesday during a meeting that it had with the institute’s authorities, including Director Prof Nalin Mehta.
The meeting was a follow-up to Monday’s discussion held between both sides in the presence of Cabinet Minister Paul Lyngdoh.
KSU general secretary Donald V Thabah told reporters discrepancies have been identified in NEIGRIHMS’s implementation of the Roster Reservation policy.
He pointed out that the first irregularity concerns ten posts for Nursing Officers reserved under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category. Seven of these posts had fallen vacant following the resignation of appointees.
“NEIGRIHMS will now have to determine whether these seven vacancies will be classified as backlog or fresh posts. However, it is confirmed that the remaining three posts are backlog vacancies,” Thabah said.
NEIGRIHMS has stated it will thoroughly examine the Roster Reservation system before deciding the classification of these positions, he said.
The KSU maintains that these vacancies should now be allocated to the Scheduled Tribe category.
Thabah also pointed out a vacancy for the post of Record Clerk reserved under EWS. He said this is a clear case of backlog.
He asserted that NEIGRIHMS cannot treat this as a fresh vacancy, citing instructions from the Department of Personnel and Training which state that unfilled EWS vacancies should not be carried forward to subsequent recruitment years.
NEIGRIHMS has assured the KSU that it will provide a formal response after a thorough review of the concerns raised.
In a fresh written submission to the NEIGRIHMS director, the KSU emphasised that issues which can be resolved internally should be addressed by the institute, while others requiring higher-level intervention should be placed before the Governing Council and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
The union reiterated its key demands, which include restoring the age limit of 35 years for Nursing Officer posts and maintaining previous age criteria for other posts, ensuring an 80:20 female-to-male ratio in Nursing Officer recruitment, removing the requirement for experience certificates exclusively from hospitals with at least 50 beds, holding recruitment examinations in Meghalaya through offline mode, reviewing the roster register and revoking EWS backlog vacancies.
The KSU’s additional demands include reinstating previous qualification criteria for the Store Keeper post, empowering NEIGRIHMS to conduct its own recruitment exams in the future, extending reservation policies to Group B posts and further consultations on amended recruitment rules with stakeholders and NEIGRIHMS associations to avoid complications.
The union urged NEIGRIHMS to initiate the process of convening an emergent meeting of the Governing Council to address the pressing unresolved issues.
Boycott of International Nurses Week
Meanwhile, the NEIGRIHMS Nurses Association (NNA) has decided not to participate in the upcoming International Nurses Week due to ongoing developments in the institute.
NNA president Rameena Khuraijam stated that the decision reflects their unified sentiment and serves as a peaceful yet resolute statement of concerns.
Khuraijam stressed that the association upholds the right to freedom of expression and the negative developments have adversely impacted the peaceful working environment and patient care.
She noted that NEIGRIHMS, a central institute under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, is a centre of excellence where every Indian citizen has the right to work freely.
Khuraijam also highlighted that the 80:20 female-to-male ratio implemented in AIIMS and other institutes has not been adopted at NEIGRIHMS.
She emphasized that the nursing fraternity comprises individuals from across the country, all of whom have joined the institute through a fair and transparent recruitment process.
The NNA president demanded regular recruitment at the earliest as per the norms to avoid stagnation in promotion and to allow them to provide the best healthcare.
