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Nurses, farmers invited as special guests for I-Day event

Some of these special guests are scheduled to visit the National War Memorial and call on Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt as part of their stay in Delhi, the statement said…reports Asian Lite News

This year marks the 77th anniversary of Independence Day, and the central government is organising an extensive celebration.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hoist the flag on Delhi’s Red Fort, and then address the country as is customary.

The event’s theme is “Nation First, Always First,” and over 1800 special guests from different walks of life have been invited as part of the “Jan Bhagidari” campaign this year, which encourages citizens all around the nation to take part in the celebrations.

Around 1,800 special guests from every corner of the country, representing a variety of professions, have been invited, according to the defence ministry statement released on 13 August.

Sarpanches from “Vibrant Villages,” teachers, nurses, farmers, fishermen, labourers who helped build the Central Vista Project in New Delhi, employees in the khadi (handspun cloth) industry, teachers who have received national awards for their work in education, workers for the Border Roads Organisation, and participants in the “Amrit Sarovar” and “Har Ghar Jal Yojana” projects carried out in various regions of the nation are all included.

The goal of the “Vibrant Villages” programme is to raise the level of living for those who live in border villages. In order to reverse the tendency of emigration and so strengthen border security, the project aims to incentivize residents to remain in these settlements.

Some of these special guests are scheduled to visit the National War Memorial and call on Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt as part of their stay in Delhi, the statement said.

Additionally, 75 couples from each state and Union Territory, in their traditional attire, have been invited to witness the ceremony, according to the defence ministry statement released on 13 August.

A larger number of guests have been invited compared to last year.

According to PTI, 250 from the farmer-producer organisations scheme; 50 participants each of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme (PM-KISAN) and the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY); 50 ‘shram yogis (construction workers)’ of the Central Vista project, including the new Parliament building; 50 khadi workers, those involved in construction of border roads, making of Amrit Sarovars and Har Ghar Jal Yojana each, as well as 50 primary school teachers, and fisherfolk each.

Two programme recipients from the state of Maharashtra have been selected to attend the Independence Day celebrations at the venerable Red Fort.

The 54-year-old farmer from Pune,  Ashok Sudam Ghule said, “I never imagined I’d get the chance to visit New Delhi’s Red Fort. Being there on Independence Day feels like a dream fulfilled.” Ghule, a sugarcane farmer with a 1.5-acre piece of land, is a beneficiary of the PM-KISAN scheme.

With some exclusions, the PM-KISAN scheme is intended to provide financial assistance to farming families who own property that is suitable for cultivation. In accordance with this programme, three equal payments of Rs 2,000 each totalling Rs 6,000 are made annually directly into the farmers’ Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.

Beneficiaries of various Central government schemes from Uttarakhand will be among the 1,700 people invited from across the country as special guests.

Dinesh Chandra Tripathi from a village in Nainital who is among the invitees from Uttarakhand, said it was a proud moment for him to be invited as a special guest to witness the Independence Day celebrations. Tripathi runs a Farmer Producer Organisation with 521 farmers.

Another FPO beneficiary, Bharat Singh Rautela from Jhala village in Uttarkashi district expressed a similar sentiment.

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Kerala UK News

UK to recruit 900 overseas nurses to address workforce shortages

Band 5 roles are normally filled by newly-qualified nurses, who want to further their experience and skills in nursing…reports Asian Lite News

A local health board in the UK could be recruiting as many as 900 nurses, mostly from Kerala, in the course of next four years to address workforce shortages, which is as high as 40 per cent in acute care and surgery.

The Swansea Bay University Health Board will hire 350 nurses from overseas in the current financial year, subject to approval by chief executive Mark Hackett, the BBC reported.

A board meeting heard that efforts were being made by the health board and the Welsh government to train and retain more homegrown staff.

The health board employs nearly 4,200 nurses and midwives, with the report saying it had “1,322 nurses and midwives currently over the age of 51 that could retire very soon or over the next few years”.

According to the BBC report, the health board, which is responsible for NHS services in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, said it recruited from the Philippines, Africa and the Caribbean, as well as India.

It would cost about 4.7 million pounds to employ 350 overseas nurses in 2023-24, but this would save 1.5 million pounds in agency and nursing bank costs, the report said.

The report said overseas nurses were offered a Band 5 contract, with a starting salary of 27,055 pounds, but initially received a Band 4 wage until they completed their UK registration.

Band 5 roles are normally filled by newly-qualified nurses, who want to further their experience and skills in nursing.

The Band 4 team is required to support the surgical team.

The health board representatives recently went to Kochi, which led to the employment of 107 nurses, some with 15 years of experience, to help fill the void of Band 5 — filled by newly qualified nurses — within Swansea Bay.

The new recruits — a mixture of medical, surgical and theatre nurses — will start their new roles this month, according to a release by Swansea Bay University Health Board.

Following compliance checks and obtaining a visa, these nurses will face a four-week OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) training programme in the health board’s Nurse Education Training Suite based in Baglan HQ before sitting an exam to attain their Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) registration.

The decision to recruit specifically from India was based on the country’s high number of quality nurses.

“In countries such as India there is a surplus of trained nurses. Ethically, we can recruit from these countries as they are not being left short of quality nurses. Often, the nurses we interview have only been given 12-month contracts in their home countries, so they are also looking at more long-term commitments, which we can offer,” said Lynne Jones, Head of Nursing Education and Recruitment.

The Swansea Bay University Health Board covers a population of approximately 500,000 people and has a budget of 1.3 billion pounds.

The Health Board says it employs approximately 16,000 members of staff, 70 per cent of whom are involved in direct patient care.

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-Top News UK News

Nurses hold biggest strike in NHS history

Up to 100,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are holding a one-day stoppage from 8 am to 8 pm after rejecting a government pay offer…reports Asian Lite News

Nurses in Britain on Thursday begin an unprecedented strike as a “last resort” in their fight for better wages and working conditions, despite warnings it could put patients at risk.

Up to 100,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are holding a one-day stoppage from 8 am to 8 pm after rejecting a government pay offer.

Ameera, a senior nurse in London, told Agence France Presse (AFP) that “we have not chosen industrial action lightly”. The strike is the first in the Royal College of Nursing union’s 106-year history. “We’re tired. We’re fed up,” added the nurse, who asked that her last name not be reported. “We need a pay rise now to make a living.”

Britain is currently grappling with a cost-of-living crisis as spiraling inflation outstrips wage growth. Union leaders and health workers also said nurses were being overworked due to staff shortages, as the state-run National Health Service (NHS) battled a backlog in appointments made worse by cancellations during the pandemic.

Chemotherapy, dialysis, intensive care and high-dependency units, as well as neonatal and pediatric intensive care, will be protected. But other services will be reduced to Christmas staffing levels during the walk-out, the RCN said.

Health chiefs warned unions that care levels could suffer because of the walkout, just as seasonal respiratory conditions such as flu add pressure on already stretched services. Cally Palmer, national cancer director for England, called on the union to exempt cancer surgery from the walkout, while England’s chief nursing officer expressed concern over the strike staffing plans.

“We hear from our colleagues that they are concerned by the assumption, implied by the RCN, that night duty staffing on day duty is safe,” Ruth May wrote in a letter to the RCN. “Ward activities during the day are very different to those at night. This decision has the potential to significantly impact on the safety of patient care (for example, by impacting delivery of intravenous antibiotics on time, patient observations and medication rounds),” she added.

The RCN’s industrial action is part of a growing wave of stoppages by public and private sector employees. Healthcare unions say their members are skipping meals, struggling to feed and clothe their families, and leaving the NHS in droves. But successive below-inflation awards since 2010 have left experienced nurses worse off by 20% in real terms, they say.

The RCN wants a pay rise significantly above inflation which surged to a 41-year high of 11.1% in October, falling slightly to 10.7% last month. The government maintains the demands are unaffordable and Health Secretary Steve Barclay called the strikes “deeply regrettable”.

RCN general secretary Pat Cullen has offered to “press pause” on the strikes if Barclay agreed to talks. But Barclay insisted that while he was open to talks on wider issues, the pay settlement was recommended by an independent review body and would not be reopened.

The NHS Pay Review Body recommended a pay rise of at least £1,400 ($1,740) on top of a 3% pay rise last year, he said. “Further pay increases would mean taking money away from frontline services at a time when we are tackling record waiting lists as a result of the pandemic,” he added.

The main opposition Labour party leader Keir Starmer called the strike a “badge of shame” for the ruling Conservative government.

Accident and emergency staff nurse Mark Boothroyd, 37, said the cost-of-living crisis had left nurses struggling to pay bills, transport and rent. Poor pay meant newly qualified nurses now spend only a year or two before leaving the profession, said Mr. Boothroyd, who works at St Thomas’ Hospital in central London.

The resulting unfilled vacancies have put huge pressure on remaining staff, many of whom were reporting mental health problems from stress. Conditions were “horrendous and cannot be allowed to go on”, he added.

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