Kanti nurses return to work

KATHMANDU, March 7: Agitating nurses at Kanti Hospital have returned to their work after a police officer, who had allegedly asked nurses to quit their jobs when they had demanded security, apologized. [break]

• Related News: Nurses halt work at Kanti Hospital after assault

According to Hem Raj Sharma, an enquiry staff at the hospital, the nurses at the emergency ward have resumed their work after the police inspector begged apology for his remarks Saturday afternoon.



However, nurses in other wards are holding meeting with the hospital director and matron over the issue of physical assault on nurses and other hospital staffs. The inspector, who could not be identified, is from Metropolitan Police Circle Office, Maharajgunj.






The nurses had stopped work after the mother of a six-month-old baby died in the hospital on Saturday morning assaulted two nurses on duty, alleging that her son Robert died due to nurses’ negligence.



One Bandana Bista from Chakkarghatti VDC of Sunsari district had strangled two nurses -- Shubhadra Regmi and Shila Maya Shrestha – after her son died at around 7:30 am.



She allegedly put the nurses in bed in the “paying ward” where the baby was undergoing treatment and strangled them. The child was suffering from common cold and fever and was undergoing treatment at the hospital since Monday.



"Even visitors there pounced upon the nurses, saying that similar case could occur to them as well," said Prema Sharma, a nurse at Oncology Ward at the hospital. "They would have almost beaten these nurses to death had other people not rescued them on time."



"It is difficult to perform our duty unless there is security guarantee," she complained.






The agitating nurses had calmed down after Bandana, the mother of the deceased child, apologized before the nurses at the hospital premises. "I could not control myself when I learnt that my baby was dead," said the bereaved mother, with her eyes welled up with tears. "I apologize for my mistake."



However, this did not stop the tension at the hospital. The agitating nurses then began protesting against police personnel deputed at the hospital.



They alleged that a police officer deputed at the hospital had allegedly told the nurses to quit their jobs altogether if they need security.



Scores of police personnel were deputed at the hospital to avoid any untoward incident in the only children’s hospital in the country.



The irate nurses were protesting even after the hospital director Rameshwor Shrestha repeatedly assured that the the accused police officer would be made to apologize.