By IANS,
Kochi: Parents of Kerala nurses have demanded better wages and work conditions for their trained children, a representative of parents’ association said Wednesday.
The Indian Nurses Parents Association (INPA) pledged support to groups of protesting nurses and took out a march Wednesday to express their solidarity with them.
Speaking to IANS, Mohan Kumar, Ernakulam district coordinator of INPA, said: “We will strongly support the nurses and for that we are holding our state convention at Kottayam on Jan 7.”
The INPA also backed nurses at the Little Flower Hospital Angamaly near Kochi who have struck work since the past two days.
“We took loans to educate our children so that they could become nurses. And after all the hard work, finally when they got a job, the salary is meagre. We demand that these nurses be paid Rs.20,000 as monthly salary,” said Mohan Kumar.
As per government rules, the starting monthly salary of a nurse, including allowances, should be around Rs.8,000.
“We have met Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and have briefed him about the tough working conditions of nurses in the private sector. We expect that the government will now step in and end the sufferings of the nurses,” said Mohan Kumar.