The Department Recruited Aggrieved Nurses (DRAN) 2021 observed a day of fasting and prayer at the Secretariat Junction, Kohima, where the nurses have been protesting for service regularisation and release of pending salaries since 9 November.

It was informed that they specially prayed for their well-wishers and also concerned authorities responsible for the current scenario. They also prayed that the concerned authorities would honour the Cabinet Memo of 5 July 2022 and the advertisement of 16 July 2022, and would regularise their services without delay.

Earlier, two meetings were held between DRAN officials and the department officials which were both inconclusive.

DRAN had also stated that the concerned authorities should not fool the public by referring to the notification of transferring their posts to the Nagaland Public Service Commission for a competitive exam as a ‘Special Recruitment Drive’.

DRAN representatives questioned how the nurses could be made to compete again for the same posts with those nurses who had failed to qualify in the previous open interview.

A representative of DRAN also stated that they would continue their second phase of agitation from 14 November. As such, they observed this Sunday as a day for prayer and fasting to give them strength to carry forward with their demands.

The Naga Mothers’ Association (NMA) had also written to the state health minister demanding the government’s intervention with respect to service regularisation and release of pending salaries of the agitating nurses and to ensure that, “due gratitude is given for the services rendered by these nurses during such at a risk of one’s life.”