HYC meets NEIGRIHMS director, demands recruitment of local candidates as nurses

A Correspondent

SHILLONG: The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) on Wednesday met North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) Director, Prof. Nalin Mehta, and submitted to him a letter on issues related to the recruitment process and other issues.

In the letter to Prof. Mehta, the HYC stated that, as per their information, about 40 to 50 persons who have been appointed as nursing officers during the last recruitment drive through NORCET have either not joined or reported for duty or have resigned from the posts.

The HYC insisted upon the Institute to take steps to appoint the local indigenous serving nurses who have the experiences and qualifications to be appointed in the above vacant posts, and/or a one-time absorption policy should be implemented to absorb all those nurses who have been employed on a contractual basis for a considerable period of time in the Institute.

"Any attempt to fill up the vacant posts from the eligible list of the recently concluded NORCET will not be acceptable to us, as we had made our stand clear during our last meetings with you. Efforts should be made to do the recruitment process by NEIGRHIMS itself using OMR methods for a swift and smooth process. It is also urged upon you that maximum recruitment of male nurses, as was done during the last recruitment, should be stopped, as well as recruiting those candidates without experience, as it is a burden and wastage of public money," the HYC said.

The pressure group also stated that the number of seats for MBBS courses in NEIGRIHMS reserved for the State of Meghalaya as per the Admission Notice in the year 2023-2024 is only 14 seats out of 50 seats, Nagaland is given 10 seats, and the open to all North Eastern states, including Sikkim, is given 18 seats.

"As it is, other north-eastern states, including Nagaland, have already started their medical colleges in their respective states. Therefore, we demand that the seats for the state of Meghalaya be increased from the current session," the HYC said.

The College of Nursing in the institute provides for both M.Sc. Nursing and B.Sc. Nursing courses with a total of 10 seats and 50 seats, respectively, but according to the HYC, no seats are reserved for the youths of Meghalaya in both courses.

The HYC has demanded that the institute take appropriate action to reserve seats for the local indigenous youths of Meghalaya from the session 2024 onwards, not based on the merit list of the All India NEET examination.

Meanwhile, the HYC also pointed out that NEIGRIHMS is situated in a tribal area that is under the jurisdiction of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC), Shillong, and as such, the laws, rules, and regulations made by it are applicable, especially when it comes to trade, services, or businesses.

According to the pressure group, it is imperative that any non-tribal entity providing any kind of service to NEIGRIHMS have a valid trading license from KHADC.

The HYC stated that it was learned recently that the tenders for procurement and purchase floated by the Store and Procurement Section of NEIGRIHMS do not have a provision for insisting on a trading license from KHADC.

"This is completely unacceptable, and the person or persons responsible for this non-insistence on trading licenses from KHADC should be taken to task and necessary action taken by the institute," the HYC stated.

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