Government to Impart Some Long Overdue Upgrade in Status to Military Nurses

NEW DELHI: The defence ministry and armed forces have in principle agreed to grant “ex-servicemen (ESM) status” to Military Nursing Service (MNS) officers as well as allow those serving as Brigadiers and above to display rank star plates on their official vehicles like other military officers.

The ESM status will allow retired MNS officers to get identity cards, seek re-employment in government organizations/PSUs and apply for different resettlement schemes of the armed forces. The MNS, the only all-women officers’ corps in the armed forces, currently has 5,300 serving officers. But they have never been accorded the full status and privileges of other military officers, including doctors.

The government decision has come after a long legal battle by some MNS officers, including Major General Usha Sikdar (retd), over their overall subordinate status in the armed forces. They have been raising 28 different issues connected to the commensurate rights and privileges of their respective ranks as commissioned officers. Many MNS officers, for instance, remain upset with their earlier olive-green uniforms being changed to safari-style dark beige color uniforms in 2004.
The armed forces tribunal (AFT) in 2010 had directed the government to treat military nurses at par with regular commissioned officers in terms of ranks and entitlements after Major General Sikdar complained of being “humiliated and insulted” during a visit to a naval hospital in Mumbai when she was “unceremoniously” denied her “authorized” staff car with star plate and flag as the head of MNS in 2003. But the defence ministry had appealed against the AFT order in the Supreme Court, where the matter is still being heard.

Defence sources on Friday said the three Service chiefs and the MoD have now decided to approve ESM status for MNS officers but it will need some technical tweaking of the “existing definition” in consultation with Department of Personnel and Training.
“There are legal issues involved and meetings are being held to resolve them after the in-principle approval by the MoD and chiefs of staff committee,” said a source. The Indian MNS, incidentally, was raised in October 1926 to act as a permanent nursing service for Indian troops. In September 1943, the IMNS became a part of the Indian Army and the members of service became commissioned officers.

Source: ToI

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