The Tamil Nadu Nurses Empowerment Association (TNNEA) has criticised the State government’s decision to fill 4,724 vacancies of nurses by recruiting candidates on a 11-month temporary contract basis and overlooking those awaiting job regularisation under the Medical Recruitment Board (MRB) scheme.
Recently, the District Health Society, National Health Mission, Tamil Nadu, invited applications for the post of contractual/temporary staff nurses for vacancies in institutions under the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services, Directorate of Medical Education and Research, and the Greater Chennai Corporation for a monthly remuneration of ₹21,000.
“An 11-month contract does not offer much job security to the employee. There are no benefits and service can be terminated at any time. Instead of appointing a fresh cadre of nurses, it would have been better for the authorities to have absorbed those who have been working under MRB contracts for many years,” N. Subin, State general secretary, TNNEA, told The Hindu.
Nurses under government service can earn over ₹30,000 as salaries while MRB nurses earn between ₹14,000 and ₹18,000. Of 325 staff nurses serving at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital in Tiruchi, 59 are working under MRB contracts.
“Despite the years we have put into our job, our hopes of getting absorbed as government service nurses are repeatedly ignored. We deserve the same consideration as the others in our salary and emoluments,” said an MRB nurse in Tiruchi.
TNNEA has announced a three-day demonstration across the State from Monday.
Published – September 26, 2026 06:52 pm IST
