CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government will soon issue a Government Order granting paid maternity leave to nurses recruited through the Medical Services Recruitment Board (MRB), Health and Family Welfare Minister Ma Subramanian said on Friday. He also announced that appointment orders confirming the services of 831 nurses will be issued before Pongal, as part of the State’s phased regularisation drive.
Speaking to reporters after issuing regularisation orders to 169 contract nurses, appointment orders to 31 personnel through transfer, and released the seniority list of 15,645 nurses at DMS campus here, Subramanian said that since assuming office, the DMK government has regularised 4,825 nurses in a phased manner. He noted that demands were raised to regularise over 8,000 MRB nurses, following which the government announced that 1,000 nurses would be confirmed before Pongal.
“Of these, 169 nurses have been regularised today. The remaining 831 nurses will be issued confirmation orders before Pongal, with new posts being created in line with expanding medical infrastructure,” he said.
The Minister pointed out that the MRB nursing recruitment system was introduced in 2015 during the AIADMK regime, under which only 1,871 posts were filled. In contrast, the present government has significantly expanded recruitment and regularisation, he said.
Referring to the COVID-19 period, Subramanian said 724 nurses who served during the pandemic sought contractual appointments, while 2,144 nurses, though not regularised, were allowed to continue under contract through a government notification.
On maternity benefits, he said that demands for paid maternity leave for contract nurses have been considered and a Government Order will be issued shortly.
Responding to concerns over the avian influenza outbreak in Kerala, the Minister said intensive surveillance is underway at 13 locations along the Tamil Nadu–Kerala border. Public health officials are screening all incoming travellers and monitoring the situation with utmost vigilance, he added.
Officials including Health and Family Welfare secretary P Senthilkumar and Director of Public Health Somasundaram were present at the event.