Overview
- More than 500 Mid-Level Healthcare Providers staged a hunger strike in Chennai on Monday, October 5, demanding permanent jobs, job security, equal pay and a monthly salary of Rs 45,000.
- Union lawyers and protesters alleged that five leaders invited for talks at the Tamil Nadu Secretariat were detained and that police cut power at the protest site and tried to clear the area.
- Opposition leaders including DMK president M. K. Stalin and AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami condemned the overnight detentions and accused the government of betraying nurses and using heavy-handed policing.
- Following late-night discussions with Health Secretary Darez Ahamed, the nurses' union agreed to temporarily withdraw the hunger strike and will wait until November 3 for concrete government action.
- The union says about 4,848 contractual MLHPs recruited in 2021 work at Health and Wellness Centres and are paid roughly Rs 21,000, a gap versus other states that underpins their demands and risks renewed protests if unresolved.