International Nurses Day: Nurses working in Kashmir share their plight

Rue heavy workload, poor work environment at hospitals; say putting sweat, soul behind treatment, recovery of every patient

Srinagar : Nurses who play a key role in hospitals in communicating with patients, understanding them and taking care of them along with administering medicines, continue to remain unsung heroes.

the 2021 study published in the International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences revealed that around 67 percent of nurses in Kashmir suffer from depression.

Besides, nurses say they experience problems at hospitals due to heavy workload, irregular work schedule, poor work environment and difficult patients.

In the face of their work schedule, they feel underpaid. On International nurses day, the spoke to nurses working in different hospitals of the Valley to get first-hand account of the problems and issues confronting them.

“I had to leave my six-month-old baby at home to attend day as well as night duty,” she said, adding that “In difficult times, I remained away from family for weeks together which became the main cause of depression.”

A nurse from south Kashmir said that it is difficult for nurses to manage both duty and family affairs. “I am a mother of three daughters but when my daughters were lactating I had to keep them with their father at home and attend duty. It was very painful attending night duty and keeping my baby at home,” she said

Other nurses said that whenever a patient feels better. “It is not only a success for a doctor, but also a success for the nurse who puts her heart, sweat and soul into service,” they said. They said that they experience a variety of occupational stressors that is heavy workload, insufficient time for family care, irregular work schedule, poor work environment and difficult patients and what pinches them most is that they are underpaid and their work is not being recognized—(KNO)