Contract nurses warn of strike over salary dues in Hyderabad

For the past five months, nearly 160 senior nursing staff have been struggling to make ends meet due to non-payment of salaries. Hired on a contract basis during the Covid pandemic, they staged a dharna in front of the Director of Medical Education (DME) office on Tuesday demanding immediate release of pending salaries.

“With no salaries, we have been taking loans from private lenders. However, now the lenders are demanding payment of interest as well as the principal amount. We are in a desperate



situation,” said Sudha, a contract nurse from Osmania General Hospital.

Led by senior office-bearers of AITUC, the contract nursing staff demanded immediate release of their salaries.

“The average take-home salary for each nurse is around Rs 23,000. How can the government expect their families to survive if they are not paid salaries for the past five months? We demand immediate release of pending salaries,” M Narasimha, the State Deputy General Secretary of AITUC, said.