Thrissur/Thiruvananthapuram: The nurses of private hospitals in the state have deferred their threatened strike from Monday following the offer of the chief minister’s office to hold talks on their demands. The United Nurses Association, at its state executive committee meeting held in Thrissur on Saturday, decided to stick to their demands at the mediation committee meeting proposed by the High Court on Wednesday. The chief minister’s office had contacted the UNA representatives on Saturday morning and said negotiations would be held only if they deferred their strike call. Health Minister K. K. Shailaja had on Friday promised to look into their demands sympathetically.
She had appealed to the nurses to wait till the meeting of minimum wages board was held on July 20. CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan too had urged them to come to the negotiating table. The strike by nearly one lakh nurses would have paralysed the private health care sector which accounts for 70 per cent of health care services in the state. President of UNA Jasmin Shah said in Thrissur that that the High Court had directed to hold a mediation committee meeting at the court on the wage hike for nurses. The UNA has been asking for a minimum basic salary of Rs 20,000.
It also wants a quota for male nurses in all hospitals. As per the direction of the Supreme Court and the reports of Balaraman and Veerakumar committees, a 50-bed hospital should give a basic salary of Rs 20,000 for nurses in addition to other allowances. There would be a five per cent increase on this basic salary according to the number of beds. Accordingly, a hospital with more than 800 beds should give a basic salary of Rs 27,800 for a nurse, he noted. “The officials in the chief minister’s office also sent a communication asking us to hold talks without going on strike. If our demands are not met, we will go on a statewide strike and will lay siege to the secretariat on July 21,” Mr Shah said.
As many as 300 nurses at Aswini Hospital in Thrissur went on an indefinite strike on Saturday alleging that the hospital management was taking vindictive action against them for taking part in the strike in June demanding better wages. According to UNA, 90 nurses on contract were fired by the hospital. Due to the strike, the hospital stopped taking in-patients and only emergency cases were attended on Saturday.
The hospital stated that only a nurse who had recently completed her contract was asked to leave due to poor performance. The UNA said that all the 90 ousted nurses were on contract and were trainees while the hospital management claimed that out of 40 trainees, only one was shown the door. “The hospital gives a bonus of 58 days for the nurses. The district labour officer had held talks with the management and nurses, and the nurses wanted the hospital to take back the fired staff which we opposed,” hospital chairman O.P. Achuth-ankutty, said.
