Honour recruitment policy assurances or face stir, KSU tells NEIGRIHMS Director

SHILLONG, July 13: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) on Monday urged the Director of NEIGRIHMS, Nalin Mehta, to honour the assurances made during last year’s meeting over the institute’s recruitment policy, warning of opposition to any move to proceed with recruitment without resolving the pending issues.
In a memorandum submitted to the Director, KSU general secretary Reuben A Najiar said the commitments made during the May 5, 2025, meeting, which led to the suspension of the union’s indefinite sit-in protest, remain unfulfilled despite repeated reminders to both the state government and the institute.
Najiar said the protest was launched after several rounds of discussions failed to resolve the union’s demands, including the implementation of an 80:20 female-to-male nursing ratio, revision of reservation quotas for indigenous communities, and recruitment examinations to be conducted by NEIGRIHMS instead of external agencies.
According to the union, the May 5 meeting, attended by representatives of the Meghalaya government, district administration, police, and NEIGRIHMS authorities, resulted in an assurance that the issues would be taken up with the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and that recruitment would remain in abeyance until the matter was settled.
The KSU alleged that there has been no progress on those assurances and expressed concern that the institute’s Governing Council may soon proceed with the recruitment process without addressing the pending demands.
“The union has learnt that the Governing Council will meet soon and all the demands placed by the union will be cast aside. If recruitment is initiated without resolving these issues, it will be met with extreme resistance from the union,” Najiar stated.
The memorandum also referred to the alleged sexual assault of a minor girl by a male nurse at NEIGRIHMS on July 4, claiming that some staff members had organised a protest in support of the accused. The KSU alleged that similar incidents had occurred in the past and demanded strict action against those involved.
Calling on the Director to honour the May 5 assurances, the KSU asked the state government to expedite the resolution of the pending issues, halt the proposed Governing Council meeting until the matter is settled, terminate the services of the accused in the alleged molestation case, and suspend those who allegedly supported the accused through protests.