Kerala nurses refuse to budge, bent on strike

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/nurses-refuse-to-budge-bent-on-strike/article19280882.ece

The government has made no conciliatory moves to placate the nurses and to end the public health crisis that could be precipitated when the nursing community goes into indefinite strike from Monday.

The High Court’s pronouncement that the government should use Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to dissuade the nurses from going on strike has not shaken the resolve of nurses.

Both INA and UNA office-bearers said the government could arrest the nurses and fill the jails but they would not back down.

“The IRC meeting on July 10 discussed only the wage revision of other hospital employees. As a category of employees with clinical skills, nurses deserved a higher pay scale,” Mohammed Shihab, the general secretary of Indian Nurses’ Association, said.

Even when the private health sector grew as the biggest industry in Kerala, no government had paid attention to the pay and service conditions of nurses.

“The nurses formed independent unions because the trade unions representing hospital employees were not protecting our interests, which is one reason why the government is not interested in settling our strike,” he said

The pitiable pay and service conditions of nurses in private hospitals grabbed public attention in 2011-12 during the first major strikes they organised.

The recommendations of the Balaraman Commission thus appointed by the government to decide fair wages for nurses were never implemented. Instead, an IRC was appointed to fix minimum wages for nurses and other hospital staff

Kerala nurses demand more wages, to go on indefinite strike from July 17

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/80-000-kerala-nurses-to-go-on-indefinite-strike-from-july-17/story-aysGyoxXN0MP1lPFwQBuVI.html

Functioning of private hospitals in Kerala is likely to be affected with an estimated 80,000 nurses deciding to go on indefinite strike from July 17 demanding higher wages.

The private hospital managements said they would be able to provide only emergency services from Monday in view of the protest call.

The United Nurses Association (UNA) and Indian Nurses Association, spearheading the ongoing agitation, said they would intensify their protest from July 17.

Satyagraha protests would be staged at the district headquarters and from July 21, they would shift the focus to secretariat here, a release from the associations said.

The nurses have been on strike since the past few days demanding minimum wages of Rs 20,000 as fixed by the Supreme Court.

Stating that 80,000 nurses would join the ‘total’ strike, UNA president Jasmine Shah said they would not buckle ‘under pressure’ from private hospitals.

Various associations of private hospitals held meetings in Thiruvananthapuram and in Kochi to take stock of the situation.

“The functioning of the hospitals will be affected. We can provide only limited services not involving nurses. There will be limited outpatient services. ICUs will not accept new patients,” said MI Shadulla of Private Hospitals Association of Private Hospitals of India (Kerala) chapter. He said only emergency surgeries would be undertaken.

With the state being gripped by viral and dengue fever, the situation could turn alarming.

“We can function only partially. We have already shut emergency rooms as all of them are full,” Shadulla, Chairman of KIMS Hospital, said.

Describing the situation as ‘unprecedented’, he claimed the 56% hike demanded by nurses was ‘very steep’ and would be ‘a burden’ on mid-size hospitals.

While maintaining that they were ‘sympathetic’ to the cause of nurses, he said the hike would also make health care cost go up, burdening the patients.

Shah said nurses with graduation were taken as trainees in private hospitals and were paid only Rs 6,500 per month.

The protesters are demanding that all the qualified nurses should get Rs 20,000 as minimum salary. By merging the DA with basic pay and declaring a new basic salary of Rs 17,200 is ‘injustice’, they said.

This would mean that a qualified nurse would not get more than Rs 20,000, association sources said

Section 144 invoked tocounter nurses’ strike

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/section-144-invoked-tocounter-nurses-strike/article19289722.ece

Nursing colleges told to deploy students to hospitals hit by stir

Invoking the power under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC), District Collector Mir Mohammed Ali on Sunday issued an order in his capacity as the District Magistrate directing the Principals of nursing colleges in the district to deploy their nursing students to various private hospitals affected by the ongoing strike by the nursing staff demanding wage hike.

In what is viewed as a step to counter the nurses’ strike in various private hospitals in the district, Mr. Ali ordered the Principals of eight nursing colleges in the district to suspend the classes of students, except that of the first-year students, for five days from July 17 to 21 so as to deploy them to the hospitals. The order also listed the number of students to be deployed in the hospitals which also included government hospitals.

The nurses in some of the private hospitals in the district have been on strike over the past 18 days. The magisterial order of the Collector said that the deployment of nursing students was an alternative arrangement as the indefinite strike of nurses in private hospitals from July 17 would severely affect healthcare service delivery.

The order also noted that major hospitals here were reportedly operating at less than 50% of their capacity and were forced to direct patients to government hospitals that were currently functioning at a level considerably higher than their sanctioned strength.

The order said that as “the healthcare infrastructure in the district is already stretched under the burden of water-borne diseases after the onset of the monsoon, the crippling of services at important private hospitals is putting the lives of patients and potential patients at grave risk.”

Moreover, the overcrowding of patients suffering from communicable diseases in government hospitals could lead to a major public health crisis, the order said.

As per the order, the managements of the hospitals would provide transportation facility, food and remuneration in the form of incidental expenses to students at the rate of ₹150 a day each. The District Police Chief would provide necessary protection for the transportation of the students from colleges to hospitals.

Police personnel would be deployed at the hospitals to prevent obstruction of work. College faculty would supervise the students in the hospitals and send daily report to the District Magistrate, the order said.

Students who abstained from ward duty would face disciplinary action, including dismissal, from the course, it said. The order said that action would be initiated by the police against those obstructing the implementation of the order.

Nursing students take to streets in protest for basic facilities at Hyderabad college

Source: http://justicenews.co.in/nursing-students-take-streets-protest-basic-facilities-hyderabad-college/39071

HYDERABAD: Almost 300 students from Medwin College of Nursing took to the streets on Friday to protest against lack of basic facilities that were promised to them at their hostel in Nampally.

With no food, water and electricity, students took the matter to the management. As there was no response, they approached the Nursing Officers Association who initiated talks with the management.

“They have been living like this for last three months. When they approached the management a month ago, they asked them to go for the summer vacation and said that things would be sorted by the time. However, with no response, they approached us,” informed Sushmitha Krupa from the Association.

Following the matter, the Association approached the director of Medical Association, the head of nursing college and police. “The students conducted a strike on Thursday night for half an hour in our presence after which they agreed to meet the students. After the meet, students claim that they were threatened,” added Krupa. Following this, the students protested on the road and some of them also vandalised property, to Krupa added.

The police then intervened and took around 20 students into preventive custody. “The students did not cooperate and hence, we had to take action,” informed A Gangaram, inspector of Abids police.

“Another group of institutions with the same name, Medwin, have agreed to take in these students as the students expressed that they do not want to continue in the former institute,” informed B Vidyavathi, registrar, TS Nursing Council.Students were provided with security from police for Friday night. Medwin management was not available for response.

Gandhi nurses go on flash strike, patients hit

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/gandhi-nurses-go-on-flash-strike-patients-hit/articleshow/56845567.cms

HYDERABAD: High drama unfolded on the premises of the state-run Gandhi Hospital on Saturday after 210 outsourced nursing staff went on a flash strike, demanding regularisation of their jobs.

Patients and other staffers were taken aback when about 20 of these nurses climbed on to the 8th floor of the main building around 8 am and threatened to take their lives if their demands were not met.

Till late evening (at the time of filing this report), the nurses stayed put on the floor, without food and water. Repeated appeals by hospital authorities to call off the strike failed to yield any result.

"This is the fourth time that the outsourced nursing staff of the hospital has gone on strike on the same issue since the formation of the new state. Yet, the government has done nothing to resolve the issue. It has only made empty assurances," rued M Narasimha, general secretary (Hyderabad) of the All India Trade Union Congress, the organisation that the outsourced nurses are affiliated to.

Though these nurses have been staging a one-hour token protest every day - since the past one week - what prompted them to intensify their stir on Saturday was the government's reported move to sideline them during the fresh recruitment drive, scheduled in government sector hospitals soon.

With over 10 years of experience, these nurses feel that their chances of direct absorption as government nurses would be lost if they are made to compete with freshers during the recruitment drive.

"The state health department is not treating us on par with contract private nurses working in government hospitals as the latter are being allotted two extra marks for every one year of experience and up to a maximum of 20 marks according to a government order issued last month. The order notified 1,000 vacancies for nurses in government sector hospitals whereas there is no such facility for outsourced nursing staff in the recruitment process," complained V Meghamala, a nursing staff leader.

Theresa May prompts anger after telling nurse who hasn't had pay rise for eight years: 'There's no magic money tree'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-may-nurse-magic-money-tree-bbcqt-question-time-pay-rise-eight-years-election-latest-a7770576.html

India ranks below Somalia and Afghanistan in neonatal healthcare, a study shows

Source: https://scroll.in/latest/838201/india-ranks-below-somalia-and-afghanistan-in-neonatal-healthcare-a-study-shows

The country ranked 154th among 195 countries in providing quality healthcare access to its citizens

Babies born in Somalia and Afghanistan have a higher chance of surviving than those born in India, a study in the medical journal Lancet revealed. According to latest Global Burden of Disease study, India ranks 154th out of 195 countries as far as access to healthcare access and quality are concerned. The country’s rank last year was 143 out of 188 countries surveyed.

The study is compiled by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, an independent research centre associated with the University of Washington, and 2,300 researchers in more than 130 countries.

The country, with a healthcare index of 44.8, fares worse than its neighbours like Nepal (50.8), Bangladesh (51.7) and Sri Lanka (72.8). China, with a score of 74 on the index, has been ranked at 82. Andorra ranked at the top of the list with an overall healthcare index of 95, while the Central African Republic was placed at the bottom with a score of 29.

The areas in which India has particularly failed to deliver are neonatal care, tuberculosis treatment, rheumatic heart disease and maternal health. It performed especially poorly in providing neonatal care and access to TB treatment. In the first category, on a scale of 1 to 100, it ranked 14 in the Healthcare Access Quality index, while in the second, it scored 26 out of 100, lower than Pakistan and Congo.

The study also says that India has not managed to meet its goals in healthcare despite its socio-economic development. The gap between its score and predicted score on the index has increased in the past 25 years.