Following an outreach by the Chief Minister’s Office, the Indian Nurses’ Association (INA) has postponed its plan for an indefinite strike from July 17.
The CM’s office here on Sunday reached out to the office-bearers of INA and United Nurses’ Association (UNA) with an offer to speak directly with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. It was based on this offer, the INA and the UNA have agreed to put on hold their agitation plans.
General secretary of the INA Mohammed Shihad said the indefinite fast in front of the Secretariat would continue. “There will be a march to the Secretariat from six hospitals from Thiruvananthpuram and Kollam. These marches will be held without disrupting the functioning of the hospitals. Depending on whether talks with the Chief Minister succeed or not, we will restart the agitation on July 21,” he said.
Vice president of the UNA Sibi Mukesh said here that the organisation too had put on hold its plan for an agitation. “We will meet on July 19 and decide whether to launch an agitation on July 20 or wait till talks are over,” he said.
On the move by the Kannur district administration to deploy nursing students to do hospital duty, Mr. Mukesh said the move was illegal. “Only a candidate who has successfully completed the nursing programme and the one-year training is qualified to see patients. This may lead to a crisis on the health front,” he said.
The Kerala High Court had on Friday prohibited the indefinite strike of nurses’ organisations from July 17 demanding higher wages. The government had submitted that the strike was announced at a time when the State was in the grip of a fever epidemic. The court held that State government had the power to impose the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) in public interest.