SH Hospital nurses to continue strike

KOCHI: Failing to reach a consensus with the hospital management, the staff nurses and nursing assistants of Sacred Heart Hospital, Pynkulam, have decided to continue their indefinite strike. The  decision was taken after Wednesday’s talks with the hospital authorities failed. Meanwhile, a move by the hospital authorities to forcibly discharge psychiatric and de-addiction patients, in the wake of the strike, created a furore at the hospital premises. A day-long talks between the Indian Registered Nurses’ Association (IRNA) and S H Hospital management could not yield any result. “The hospital management is adamant on its stand. They declined our demand for a reasonable salary hike. A staff nurse, who has 25 years of experience gets only `8,000 per month. “About 15 new staff nurses are paid only `4,000 per month,” said Bibinish Kumar V S, president of the IRNA Idukki district committee.When about 160 nursing staff, including nursing assistants, went ahead with the strike, the hospital management reportedly discharged over 150 patients citing the reason that they cannot take care of the patients without sufficient number of staff, thereby leaving the bystanders in a predicament. Psychiatric patients who have shown little improvements were also discharged, said Bibinish. He denounced the management for taking vengeance against nurses who demanded their rights. “When we carried out token strike we assured the operation of the hospital by sending a few of our members to work.  But hospital authorities forcibly removed them. They also closed down the quarters allocated to female staff nurses,” said Bibinish.