State Government has filled all vacancies in nurses

Chennai: As village health nurses awaited their appointment orders at the counselling session inside, their husbands and children braved the hot sun outside the Health and Family Welfare Training Centre in Egmore on Friday.The wait to become village health nurse/auxiliary nurse midwife for 225 women ended on Friday when they were appointed to the posts at an enrolment programme held at the Health and Family Welfare Training Centre, Egmore.

With this, the State Government has filled all vacancies in this category, said Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj. There are 8,000 VHN/ANM posts across the State. Many of them were vacant. The first round of recruitment was held in last October.The State Government, he said, would continue to train candidates for VHN/ANM, but the posting would be given only when vacancies arose. The 18-month training included a six-month stint as field worker. As part of their training, the candidates interacted with patients in hospitals.

A VHN covers a population of 5,000, while an ANM is posted in primary health centres, and handles a population of 25,000. Their work profile includes maintaining a register of births and deaths in their area, caring for the pregnant women and their children, administering vaccination, and identifying diseases such as leprosy and directing the patient to hospital for treatment.The appointment orders were given in the presence of senior officials of the Health Dafter counselling.

The appointed women, aged between 25 and 37, were awaiting posting for over five years after training. Many of them work in anganwadis, under the Integrated Child Development Services, or in noon meal centres. Some said they had taken up jobs as nurses in small hospitals in nearby towns. The Government job would entitle them to a better salary and perks. The list of vacancies in the various villages was put on the notice board. In some districts like Tirunelveli there were no vacancies. Women from these districts said they had opted for posting in nearby districts. They were asked to provide four places of their choice during the counselling.Mr. Subburaj said 19 posts of sanitary workers were also filled under the "compassionate appointment" during the counselling.