The labour enforcement wing, which is inspecting hospitals in southern districts, is looking into the minimum wages paid to hospital employees. The inspection follows the nurses’ strikes at various private hospitals.

“The inspection at major establishments and hospitals with a staff exceeding 10 employees is complete. The inspection of the remaining establishments will be completed at the earliest.

Those who are found guilty will be notified to revise the salaries according to the minimum wages fixed by the government,” the Regional Joint Labour Commissioner, Veerakumar told this news paper.

Hospitals are responsible for implementing necessary corrective steps to provide minimum wages immediately after the inspection.

Assistant labour officers, who conduct the inspection, will file a claim petition regarding the minimum wages with the Deputy Labour Commissioner against hospitals that are found guilty.

If found guilty, criminal proceedings will be initiated against the hospital managements, he added.

In southern regions such as, Thiruvananth- apuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha, the squad has completed inspection of 156 hospitals.

The squad found that altogether these hospitals have 17,065 employees. Out of this 7,794 employees are not entered in the register maintained by hospitals.

The squad also found that 11,667 employees are not receiving the minimum wages fixed by the government. Only 31 percent of the employees are receiving minimum wages in all the hospitals.