A nursing job aspirant was hospitalized after allegedly consuming phenyl during a protest outside Uttarakhand Health Minister Subodh Unyal’s residence in Dehradun on Wednesday, people familiar with the matter said. The demonstrators were demanding annual hiring for nursing positions based on seniority, along with other long-awaited demands.
Nursing Ekta Manch president Naval Ponder said the group ended its more than 150-day protest in May after receiving assurances from the health minister that their demands would be met. But he claimed that the government failed to fulfill its promises.
“We were holding a protest outside the Health Minister’s residence when one of the protesters consumed vinyl. A few others also tried to do so, but we stopped them,” Bondir said.
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He said that a delegation of demonstrators met with the Minister of Health around one o’clock in the afternoon and informed him that their demands were justified and had remained pending for the past eight months. “Some aspirants are suffering from depression due to the long delay in recruitment,” Bondir added.
Station House Officer (SHO) of Cantt police station, Shankar Bisht, said the woman consumed vinyl while organizing the protest outside the minister’s residence. “She consumed vinyl during the protest, following which she was admitted to Doon Hospital,” the SHO said.
The medical superintendent of Doon Medical College and R S Bisht Hospital said the woman was admitted to the intensive care unit. He added: “Her condition is stable and she is currently under observation in the intensive care unit.”
Aspirants seek recruitment on annual basis to nursing posts on the basis of seniority, relaxation in age limit for overage candidates due to delay in recruitment, preference to local candidates in appointments, creation of at least 2,000 additional nursing posts as per Indian Public Health Norms (IPHS).
Nursing recruitment in Uttarakhand was earlier conducted on the basis of seniority on an annual basis before the rules were amended in 2020 to introduce a written test, Budir said.
