Nurses in private hospitals in the State have declared indefinite agitation from Monday demanding implementation of Supreme Court directions and the reports of the Balaraman and Veerakumar committees regarding revision of wages.
The State council meeting of the United Nurses Association (UNA) held here on Saturday took the decision. In the first stage, nurses in Thrissur district will start an agitation from Monday.
Govt-level meeting
The agitation will be launched in the rest of the hospitals after the government-level meeting to be held on June 27. However, campaigns will begin in those hospitals too.
The UNA has already given notice of agitation to 158 hospitals in the State. The rest of the hospitals will be given the notice before Monday, according to UNA state president Jasmin Shah.
“The association will provide minimum number of nurses in causality department to avoid difficulty for patients. However, new admissions through the outpatient (OP) department will not be allowed. A team of experts nurses will be keep ready to handle emergency cases. Their services will be provided in emergency situations, including accident cases,” Mr. Shah said.
The nurses who do the emergency services also decided not to take wages during the agitation period.
The managements have been taking an obdurate stand against revision of wages during the discussions called by the Labour Department and the Labour Minister, the UNA alleged.
The minimum wages committee chaired by the Labour Commissioner is going to hold a meeting to create a consensus between managements and the union. The union has decided to strengthen the agitation across the State if the managements continued their stand against revision of wages.
The agitating nurses and other workers will hold a meeting at the Thekkinkadu maidan on Monday morning and take out a protest march to the Collectorate.