Kerala nurses to go on strike on Thursday

26-hour stir to seek resolution of 176-day-old strike at Cherthala hospital.

Nurses under the United Nurses Association (UNA) will go on a 26-hour strike across the State on Thursday, if the 176-day-old strike at KVM Hospital, Cherthala, is not resolved by then, said M. Jasminsha, national president of UNA.

Nurses will only be present at the casualty and emergency services and will not work in the wards that day, he added. Nurses in the State observed a ‘black day’ on Monday in protest against the police action on nurses on Sunday in Cherthala.

Nurses across 13 States, where the UNA has units, are observing the ‘black day’ in support of the nurses here, said Mr. Jasminsha.

He said the nurses were yet to be paid the new wages recommended by the Supreme Court. The new wages were expected by November last year. The government could be delaying the process because of the pressure exerted by private hospital managements, he added.

Minimum wage not paid

Nurses at KVM Hospital claim that the hospital has not been paying the minimum wages and other benefits mandated in 2013. On Sunday, the striking nurses had picketed the National Highway.

UNA State secretary Sujanapal Achuthan is on indefinite hunger strike at the venue.

Meanwhile, a group of nurses under the UNA have started operations to revive an 80-bed hospital called Kottakkad Lifecare Hospital, Thiruvalla, said Mr. Jasminsha.

The UNA had declared earlier that they would garner the support of doctors and run some of the hospitals that were said to be closing down.

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