SHILLONG – The NEIGRIHMS Nurses Association has run out of symbolic ways to protest. After black badges, a four-day dharna, a cancelled rally and meetings with senior officials, nurses are now preparing to leave duty together on September 9 and begin an indefinite strike from September 17 if their demands remain unresolved.
The NEIGRIHMS Nurses Association is pushing for regular appointments against all sanctioned Nursing Officer vacancies and wants a proposal to outsource those positions scrapped entirely.
The campaign started August 17 with black badges worn on duty, escalated into a four-day dharna held daily between 2 pm and 4 pm from August 18 to 21, and was meant to culminate in a rally from the OPD Gate to the Director’s Office on August 21, one that never happened after authorities imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS.
A meeting with Health and Family Welfare Minister Wailadmiki Shylla and NEIGRIHMS Director Prof Nalin Mehta on August 19 also failed to move things forward, the association said it came away without a satisfactory, time-bound resolution. Beyond the recruitment and outsourcing demands, the nurses are also pressing for implementation of the Union Health Ministry’s May 30, 2026 Office Memorandum and an early date for the long-pending recruitment examination.
What makes this moment different from everything before it is simple: badges, sit-ins and meetings didn’t require anyone to actually stay away from patients. Mass leave does.
With nine days left before the September 17 strike threat kicks in, NEIGRIHMS is staring down a question that has nothing to do with sanctioned posts or outsourcing policy anymore, whether the institute can keep its wards properly staffed if this actually happens.
