KOCHI: The mediation talks held between the nursing community and hospital managements on the Kerala High Court’s order failed on Wednesday, a day before the nurses associations’ crucial meeting with the Chief Minister.Protesting against this, nurses owing allegiance to the United Nurses Association (UNA) will take mass leave on Thursday.
“The mediation talks failed as the managements were not ready to accept our demands to set a minimum monthly salary of Rs 20,000 as proposed by the Supreme Court. We also raised the statement in this regard by the Union Health Minister in the Parliament on Wednesday. However, the managements said they did not have any information on this other than what appeared in the media,” said UNA president Jasmin Shah.
“We will take mass leave on Thursday in protest. The functioning of the hospitals will not be hampered because of this,” Jasmin Shah said.The managements, however, said the talks that stretched nearly six hours, failed mainly due to the non-participation of any other nurses’ organisation other than UNA.
“Barring UNA, no other nurses’ associations participated in the discussion. Some of UNA’s members were also late for the meeting. So, we could not arrive at a decision. The mediation talks will continue,” said Fr Thomas Vaikathuparambil, chairman, Confederation of Private Hospitals Associations (CPHA). He, however, said the talks were moving in a positive direction. “Salary revision is one of the 21 demands raised by the nurses,” he said.
Representatives of the nursing community have now pinned their hopes on their Thursday meeting with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. “We are relying on the meeting chaired by the Chief Minister as we expect the managements will not show the same attitude they show while meeting us,” Jasmin Shah said.
Concern in LS over ‘pitiable condition’ of nurses
New Delhi: Members from Kerala in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday highlighted the ‘pitiable condition’ of nurses in private hospitals, saying many of them are given a paltry salary of Rs 3,000-4,000 per month despite a Supreme Court order fixing the minimum salary at Rs 20,000. Union Minister of Health J P Nadda agreed it is a serious issue but said it is for the state governments to act after the Central Government wrote to them last year to frame guidelines over the issue.He said a committee formed by the government in February last year had given a very specific report, which stated nurses working in 200-bed hospitals should get salary on a par with government hospitals.
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