Govt convenes meeting of nurses, pvt hospital managements

Kerala government would hold a meeting of nurses association and private hospital managements on July 20 to settle various issues, including hike in wages and other allowances.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan would hold discussions with representatives of nurses associations and private hospital managements on July 20, an official release said here today.

The nurses under the United Nurses Association had  yesterday postponed their state-wide indefinite strike planned from today following government intervention to July 19.

Members of the outfit said that the decision in this regard was taken at their state committee meeting after the intervention of the Chief Minister's Office.

The strike call was given by United Nurses Association demanding minimum wages of Rs 20,000 as fixed by the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, BJP alleged that state government instead of settling the nurses issue was trying to suppress their agitation.

BJP National executive member V Muraleedharan said in a statement that government had acted in favour of private hospital managements and denied the reasonable wages to nurses. 'Directing nurses to join duty by threatening to impose ESMA was anti-working class', Muraleedharan said.