Kerala: Course delay hits govt nurses' promotion hard

Kozhikode: Some 130 nurses under the public health department are stuck at Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram due to the delay in the completion of a six-month course stipulated by the Kerala Nurses and Midwives Council. The trainee nurses at Family Welfare Training Centre, Malaparamba, here say their many benefits including the retirement benefits are stuck due to an indefinite delay in the completion of the mandatory course.

Started in April, the senior health supervisory course was set to be concluded in October and was catering to 100 selected candidates, 50 from Kozhikode region and 50 from Thiruvananthapuram region. However, protesting the selection of the candidates, some of them filed petitions, and 30 more public health nurses joined the course after the early batch started.

While the course is mandatory for the promotion of nurses, they are not in a position to leave it midway. The uncertainty in the wrapping up of the course is also troubling candidates from far away places, said one of the nurses attending the course in Kozhikode, on condition of anonymity. Many are hailing from other districts like Wayanad and Kasargod.

They fear if they would be able to resume duties at least by the end of next month. Though the course is now scheduled to end by October, it might be extended to include the attendance of the late joined candidates, as 80 percent attendance is mandatory to write the examination. The result will take another couple of weeks to be published.