Upset over the remarks made by Haryana Women’s Commission chairperson Renu Bhatia during her visit to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital in Kurukshetra on Sunday, scores of nursing staff members on Tuesday observed a two-hour pen-down strike in Haryana.Upset over the remarks made by Haryana Women’s Commission chairperson Renu Bhatia during her visit to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital in Kurukshetra on Sunday, scores of nursing staff members on Tuesday observed a two-hour pen-down strike in Haryana. (HT Photo)The nurses body has been demanding an apology from Bhatia and said that she should resign for her comments of “unfairly blaming the nurses for negligence” and hinted at possible collusion by some staff member in the minor’s rape by a consultant doctor at the hospital.Bhatia has refused to apologise for her remarks and instead termed the entire protest backed by the opposition.The Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA), Pharmacy Officers’ Association, Laboratory Technicians’ Association and other staffers of the health department also joined the protest in support of nursing staff in several districts.The protest comes in the wake of an alleged sexual assault on a minor by a 62-year-old retired SMO, Shailender Kumar Shally. The doctor who was arrested is lodged in Kurukshetra jail.Following the case earlier this month, Bhatia visited the hospital to review the situation, meet the victim and lashed out at the staffers over lapses that may have contributed to the incident.A senior nursing officer in-charge of the Kurukshetra OPD said she was on supervision duty and claimed that the nurses were not informed by the doctor that there was a female patient inside.Aarti Sharma, a protesting nursing staff member at Karnal district civil hospital, said, “The nursing staff members always performed their duties with utmost dedication and professionalism. It is wrong to blame nurses for incidents without proper investigation.”Dr Sanjay Verma, HCMSA Karnal president, said, “Such statements demoralise healthcare workers”.Bhatia has refused to take back her statement or apologise and maintained that three nurses were on duty and none was with the victim.“The doctor was with the victim for 45 minutes. He even attended other patients during the time, but none of the nurses was with the female patient, which should be their responsibility,” she said.