At B J Government Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital ,a round 370 nurses have joined the state wide stir while over 300 nurses from Baramati's medical college have also participated in the strike.Even as the indefinite strike by the Maharashtra State Nurses Association (MSNA) entered its sixth day on Wednesday, the state goverment is hopeful that they will withdraw the stir after a written assurance is provided regarding meeting some of their demands.Secretary of Medical Education Dheeraj Kumar, told the The Indian Express that they will give a copy of the minutes of the meeting held between the agitating nurses and Medical Education Minister Hasan Mushrif to the MSNA.A meeting was held on Tuesday where the nurses association representatives had raised their demands and demanded a written assurance, failing which they would continue the agitation.Over 25,000 nurses across government run hospitals in the state are on an indefinite strike.“We want the state to issue a government resolution on the matter of contractual nurses and other demands we have raised,” Sumitra Tote General Secretary, Maharashtra State Nurses Association (MSNA) reiterated.At B J Government Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital ,a round 370 nurses have joined the state wide stir while over 300 nurses from Baramati’s medical college have also participated in the strike.Of 18,744, 6441 posts vacantAmong their major demands include stopping the contractual recruitment of nurses and ensure parity in wages and increase in allowances.Story continues below this adThe state medical education secretary told The Indian Express that contractual recruitment of nurses was a stop gap arrangement till the end of the year.There are as many as 18,774 posts of nurses and so far 12,333 have been filled. We have to recruit 6441 nurses and to ensure that there is no strain on the present lot of nurses, the state had appointed nurses on a contract basis.“However this is a stop gap arrangement and recruitment rules will be in place soon,” he said.On the parity in pay scales under the seventh pay commission, Kumar said the recommendations by some of the committees set up to address the issue had rejected the claims. “However we have heard some of the issues raised by the nurses association and assured that the request will be sent to the finance committee on the matter,” Kumar said.Story continues below this adSassoon makes alternate arrangementsIn Pune, around 370 of the 950 nurses at B J Government Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital also joined the state-wide agitation over several other demands. Arifa Shaikh, MSNA president (Pune Chapter) at B J Government Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital, said that they wanted a written assurance that the state would meet their demands.Dr Yellappa Jadhav, Medical Superintendent of Sassoon General Hospital said that they had asked Dr D Y Patil Hospital and Bharati Hospital to send their student nurses. “We have got around 340 student nurses. The Pune Municipal Corporation and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation authorities have also been requested to send in at least 25 -30 trained nurses so that they can supervise the student nurses in case the agitation continues for a few days,” he said. Anuradha Mascarenhas is a journalist with The Indian Express and is based in Pune. A senior editor, Anuradha writes on health, research developments in the field of science and environment and takes keen interest in covering women's issues. With a career spanning over 25 years, Anuradha has also led teams and often coordinated the edition. ... Read MoreClick here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:pune