The Kerala Private Hospital Association has decided to suspend out-patient services at hospitals in the district on Wednesday in protest against agitation by nurses.
The Association president, Mr. Muhammad Rasheed, said discussions with the state government for a reasonable minimum wage structure for nurses had so not yielded results.
Already, OP counters have on a limp, on account of sporadic nurses’ agitation. However, hospitals were trying to avert any major dislocation in services to inpatients and other essential services, including operation theatres.
Kerala has been witnessing agitation by nurses and nursing students, demanding better terms and conditions. While managements saw the agitation as “unruly”, nurses’ blamed work overload and poor wages for the unsavory incidents.
Staff nurses at Elite hospital, Koorkenchery, had gone on a 2-day agitation. Agitation in other parts of the state had invited flak from the Nursing Council for disruption of patient care but even the council was against managements riding roughshod on genuine demands by nurses.