15 Years On Contract: Andhra’s Nurses Allege Systemic Injustice

Kadapa – Andhra Pradesh: For over 15 years, nearly 8,000 contract staff nurses across Andhra Pradesh have been rendering uninterrupted emergency healthcare services without job security, maternity benefits, or recognition, calling the system “institutional exploitation” and a grave injustice to their personal and family lives.

• No regularisation despite mandatory policy

G Kamalbee, State Joint Secretary of AP Contract Staff Nurses’ Struggle Committee, alleged that successive governments have failed to issue annual regularisation notifications, despite clear policy obligations. Many nurses have continued on temporary contracts for over a decade and a half, with no pathway to permanent employment.

According to Kamalbee, this prolonged uncertainty has turned what was meant to be temporary service into lifelong insecurity.

• Experienced nurses overlooked, ANMs preferred

Kamalbee expressed anguish over the government’s decision to fill regular staff nurse posts by training Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) of Village Secretariat for 18 months, bypassing contract nurses who possess full qualifications and up to 15 years of in-service experience.

She termed this move “the greatest injustice,” arguing that experience, continuity of care, and service during crises have been completely ignored.

• Maternity without maternity leave

According to many nurses, one of the most painful realities highlighted was the absence of maternity leave. Contract staff nurses are forced to take up to two months of leave on loss of pay during childbirth.

Many recounted how they cared for lactating mothers, newborns, and critically ill children, while being denied the same dignity during their own motherhood.

• Personal lives sacrificed for public health

Despite family crises, health issues, and childcare responsibilities, contract nurses say they have continued to serve patients relentlessly—often at the cost of their own children’s upbringing.

“Our services were extended to everyone except our own families,” Kamalbee said, adding that their sacrifices have gone completely unrecognised.

• Emergency services, no human consideration

Being part of emergency services, contract nurses said they are denied all forms of leave during calamities such as the COVID-19 pandemic and cyclones.

“Even in disasters, we were expected to work without rest, without protection, without rights—though we are humans like everyone else,” they stated.

They argued that by definition, emergency services should never be run on a contract system.

• No security even in death

Kamalbee further pointed out that if a contract staff nurse dies during service, their family is not entitled to any benefits—unlike regular employees.

“This is modern-day bonded labour in public healthcare,” she alleged.

• Frontline sacrifice during pandemic

Speaking with deep anguish, Kamalbee said that 15 contract staff nurses lost their lives while serving on the frontline during the Covid-19 pandemic, underscoring the deadly risks they bore as emergency healthcare workers.

• Repeated appeals, no response

Representations were submitted to all 175 MLAs, successive Health Ministers, and Chief Ministers, but no concrete action has followed, they said.

• Recognition denied, even symbolically

Drawing a comparison with Telangana, nurses noted that the Revanth Reddy government conferred the dignified title of “Nursing Officer” on staff nurses—at no additional cost.

The Andhra Pradesh government, they said, has failed to even symbolically acknowledge their contribution.

• 8,000 voices, one demand

Across Andhra Pradesh, nearly 8,000 contract staff nurses continue to work without job security, medical benefits, or dignity.

“This is not employment; this is exploitation,” said Kamalbee, warning that continued neglect could severely impact public healthcare morale and quality.

(Source: IAIJ/BIN/DPJB)