Thiruvananthapuram: A section of nurses working in private hospitals in the state staged a strike at Cherthala in Alappuzha district on Thursday, citing various demands including implementation of the revised wages in the sector.
The agitation, called by the United Nurses Association (UNA), was scheduled to continue till Friday morning. However, it was called off by Thursday evening after the Alappuzha district submitted a report to the government that the nurses' demand needed immediate attention.
Nurses assigned on emergency and casualty duties were exempted from the strike, UNA representatives said. Their main demand was to resolve the ongoing 178-day-old agitation by the nurses of KVM Hospital at Cherthala seeking the implementation of minimum wages. They claimed that the hospital managements had not been paying them minimum wages and other benefits mandated in 2013.
Hundreds of nurses on Thursday turned up in front of the KVM Hospital to express solidarity with their striking colleagues. The state-wide strike was also to protest against the recent police action on the nurses of the KVM hospital who had picketed the national highway, UNA national president M Jasminsha said. He said the agitation would be intensified if their demands were not met.
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