THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/ALAPPUZHA: In a move aimed at pacifying the private hospital nurses who are on warpath demanding wage hike, the state government on Monday night issued a notification revising their minimum basic salary.But, it did not fully serve its purpose as the United Nurses Association (UNA) cited a lack of clarity and decided to continue with the proposed long march on Tuesday.
The march will begin from Cherthala and is expected to reach the Secretariat on April 30.Though the package does not follow some of the recommendations in the draft notification, the basic pay has gone up from Rs 8,975 to Rs 20,000 in clinics having up to 100 beds. The nurses, who have been classified into six categories, will get a salary ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 according to the bed strength.
The nurses will get a maximum additional allowance up to 50 per cent while administerial staff members will get a maximum allowance of 12.5 per cent. Their minimum salary has been fixed at Rs 16,000-22090. The paramedical staff will get a basic pay of Rs 16,400 and 15 per cent additional allowances.
Besides this, service weightage, dearness allowance and yearly increment will be provided to the staff. The general administration department staff, who have been drawing a salary of Rs 7,775, will get a revised salary of Rs 16,000 as per the new notification and an additional allowance of maximum Rs 2000. The paramedical staff will also get a salary of Rs 16,400 and additional allowance of maximum Rs 2,460.
The UNA leaders, however, said the notification did not mention the issues related to the sacking of employees of the KVM hospital. “So the agitation will end only after a clarity would arise on all our demands. The meeting of UNA would decide on the matters in the coming days,” a leader said.More than 113 nursing staff have been striking over labour issues for over 200 days at the KVM Hospital in Cherthala.
FACTS & FIGURES
The basic pay of all nursing staff has been fixed at Rs 20,000
The nurses will get an additional allowance of Rs 2000-10,000 according to the number of beds of the hospital
Apart from basic pay and bed allowance, the nurses will get an yearly increment, service weightage and dearness allowance to all category of nurses
It will have retrospective effect from October 1, 2017.
Compared to the 2013 notification, the new notification provides 58-102 per cent hike in the wages
The salary of administrative staff has been fixed at Rs 16,000, apart from bed allowance, yearly increment, service weightage and DA
The paramedical staff will also get a basic pay of Rs 16,400, apart from bed allowance, yearly increment, service weightage and DA.