Eleven-month contracts and unsafe wards: Tamil Nadu's government health workers raise the alarm

The people who keep Tamil Nadu's government hospitals running, its nurses and junior doctors, are telling the State the same thing in different words this week: they need secure jobs and safe workplaces.

A fast against temporary jobs

About 250 nurses from the Tamil Nadu Nurses Empowerment Association observed a hunger protest in Chennai on Wednesday. They want the government to withdraw its decision to appoint nurses in government hospitals on 11-month temporary terms and to hire nursing tutors on contract.

They also asked the government to stop the "redeployment" of nursing staff, which they described as a way of cutting the workforce, and to make all contractual nurses permanent, as promised in the ruling party's election manifesto. A further demand was an order granting regular time-scale pay for 2,500 posts that the Health Department had announced for regularisation in its demand for grants.

A warning about touts

The same day, the Health Department warned candidates applying for nursing jobs not to pay anyone who promises an appointment. District Health Societies recently invited applications for 4,724 contractual or temporary staff nurse posts.

Responding to an allegation that money had been demanded for postings, the Office of the Health Minister said in a social media post that recruitment was transparent and merit-based. "No payment or fee is required for selection or appointment," it said. Candidates were asked to report any approach on 8754448477 or by email to dph.nursesrecruitment.grievance@gmail.com, and to rely only on official communications.

Doctors: make hospitals high-security zones

Separately, the Service Doctors and Post Graduates Association (SDPGA) urged the State to declare all government health institutions "high-security zones" and to create a special police force for hospitals.

The association pointed to the recent death of a woman police constable on duty at Paramakudi Government Hospital, who was injured while trying to stop a fight between two groups. It listed other recent incidents. On September 21, a 35-year-old woman working in the emergency department of Ponneri Government Hospital was set on fire by an unidentified man while on duty. At Valparai Government Hospital, a group of young men forced their way in and threatened women doctors; a case was registered, but no arrests have been made.

The SDPGA also recalled the 2024 stabbing of a senior oncologist in the outpatient department of the Kalaignar Centenary Super Speciality Hospital. After that attack, it said, the government set up committees on hospital security, but their recommendations remain on paper.

More than 70% of the State's health workforce are women, the association said, and many work through the night. Security, it argued, is a condition for their safety, not a luxury.

Why it matters

Temporary contracts and unsafe wards are connected. A nurse on an 11-month contract has little power to complain about conditions, and a hospital without proper security puts the most junior staff at the front of every confrontation. Tamil Nadu's public health system is often praised as one of India's strongest. Its strength depends on the people working the night shift.