Nagaland medical students suspend protest amid court stay on regularisation

Kohima: The Nagaland Medical Students' Association (NMSA) has announced the suspension of its protest against the regularisation process of 280 health workers appointed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decision follows the issuance of an interim directive by the Gauhati High Court's Kohima Bench, which has put the regularisation process on hold.

According to the PTI report, the HC stayed the state cabinet decision of August 6, 2024, and the subsequent notification issued by the Health Department on August 18, 2025. It directed that no further steps be taken by the state government towards regularisation on the basis of the said decision and notification until further orders. The process under scrutiny involved the regularisation of various categories of 280 posts created during the COVID-19 pandemic through a Departmental Screening Committee.

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In a notification issued on Thursday, the department said the process has been kept in abeyance until further orders.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that, alleging that all recruitment should be merit-based and conducted through open competitive examinations, several medical students in Nagaland on Saturday staged a protest opposing the state government’s move to regularise 280 contractual health workers who were appointed during COVID-19 without conducting competitive examinations. While the government clarified that the move was in line with a high court ruling, the students announced they would continue their peaceful protest until the decision is revoked.