NEW DELHI: Paltry payment to nurses by private hospitals was highlighted by members from Kerala in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday as they said that many of them are given a salary of Rs 3000-4000 per month despite a Supreme Court order fixing the minimum salary at Rs 20000.
Raising the issue in Lok Sabha, Anto Antony of Congress said private hospitals are paying Rs 200 per day for nurses. “Even a coolie worker earns more in Kerala, he said.
Subsequently, K C Venugopal of Congress added that nurses were ‘angels of God’ but were being treated poorly. Several other members also supported them. They said that the plights of nurses working in private establishments and as contract workers are pathetic across the nation.
Union Health Minister J P Nadda agreed that it was a serious issue but said that it was for the state governments to act after the central government wrote to them last year to frame guidelines over the issue.
The minister said a committee formed by the government in February last year had given a very specific report, which states that nurses working in 200-bed hospitals should get salary at par with government hospitals. It had also said that the salary should not be less than Rs 20000. Following the report, the union government had written to state governments and it was up to them now to act, he said.