Contractual nurses court arrest

Bhubaneswar: Over 100 contractual nurses on Wednesday courted arrest after the police prevented them from entering the residence of the health minister here, police sources said.

The nurses from three state run medical colleges were agitating for the past four days to protest the alleged apathy of the state government towards their long-standing demands, which included regularization of their services and increased pay.

Health services in the three medical colleges were partially affected due to the strike by the contactual nurses. Medical authorities, however claimed that there was no disruption in healthcare as regular nurses did overtime duty, while the services of student nurses was also taken.