T.N. Village Health Nurses demand filling up of vacant posts, to stage series of protests

Village Health Nurses (VHN) affiliated with the Tamil Nadu Government All Health Nurses Association have flagged a number of concerns, including a delay in filling the large number of vacant posts, as a result of which their workload has increased manifold. They have also registered their objection to the Health department’s move to involve Mid Level Health Providers (MLHP) in immunisation services — one of the key service areas of VHNs — instead of filling the vacancies.

On Friday (June 27, 2025), the association members, along with the Doctors Association for Social Equality (DASE), said that they have decided to launch a series of protests to put forward their demands, starting with wearing demand badges till July 2, demonstrations in all district headquarters on July 10, and a fast in Chennai on July 24.

There were nearly 4,000 vacant posts of VHNs in the State. As a result, the existing VHNs were covering four villages instead of one each through the Health Sub Centres. This has resulted in heavy workload, and was affecting maternal and child health services, they said in a press release.

“Now, instead of filling the vacant posts, the Directorate of Public and Preventive Medicine is trying to engage MLHPs — 4,848 of them were recruited for Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam — to work in HSCs and take up the immunisation services. It is VHNs who have been carrying out immunisation work for several decades, and this decision is unacceptable,” R. Indhira, founder, Tamil Nadu Government All Health Nurses Association, said. She added that a court case was being cited for not filling up the vacancies.

G.R. Ravindranath, general secretary, DASE, said the State government should take steps to expedite the court case and fill the vacancies. He also demanded that the government withdraw its decision to involve big private hospitals to provide immunisation services under the Universal Immunisation Programme.

The implementation of Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefit Scheme was taking up 80% of the time of the VHNs. As a result, their primary responsibilities in maternal and child health care were being affected. The scheme’s implementation should be returned to the Social Welfare department, they demanded.