Facing Discrimination & Racism, 185 Nurses Who Quit Jobs In Kolkata Return To Homes In Manipur

After facing discrimination and racism, 185 nurses from Manipur who had quit their job from hospitals in Kolkata last week, have finally returned home to their native places.

ANI

One of the nurses, Cristella was quoted telling ANI, ¡°We are not happy that we left our duties. But we faced discrimination, racism and people sometimes spit on us. Lack of PPE kits and people used to question us everywhere we went¡±.

It comes at a time when Kolkata is facing extreme health crisis which has been compounded by around 300 nurses having quit their jobs over not only lack of protective gear, but also over many of the healthcare workers facing discrimination.

Manipur:185 nurses have quit their job from hospitals in Kolkata&returned to Imphal. Cristella, a nurse says,"We're not happy that we left our duties. But we faced discrimination,racism&people sometimes spit on us.Lack of PPE kits&people used to question us everywhere we went". pic.twitter.com/y4nlwbhaK6

¡ª ANI (@ANI) May 20, 2020

While India battles the coronavirus pandemic and country facing a major challenge to curb the spread of virus, the crisis has been marred by many racist episodes with people of northeast being targeted.

The nurses have also alleged that no adequate measures were taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and there was no segregation when it came to social distancing.

ANI

The nurses claim that they were sharing hostel accommodation with 8-10 occupants in one room. They opined that this had created a situation where infection could easily spread amongst hostel inmates.

There have also been reports of many nurses from Manipur who were living in rented accommodations being told by their landlords to vacate the premises and some even went on to face racism as a result.