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National federation seeks upward revision of pay for nurses

Special Correspondent

Detailed memorandum already handed to Pay Commission

— Photo: T. Singaravelou

ADDRESSING ISSUES: Secretary General of All India Government Nurses Federation G.K. Khurana addressing a meeting of nurses of government hospitals in Puducherry on Sunday.

Puducherry: The Secretary General of All-India Government Nurses Federation, G.K. Khurana, said that the federation had submitted a memorandum to the Sixth Pay Commission in January seeking upward revision of pay and allowances for the nurses. Addressing newsmen here on Sunday, Mrs. Khurana said that the nurses should be paid a basic pay of Rs.6,500 against the present Rs.5,000 and they should also be given "non-practicing allowance" (NPA) at the rate of 25 per cent of the basic pay.

Mrs. Khurana said the federation would hold rallies and processions to focus the attention of the authorities on the issue. If there was no positive response, the federation would hold an one-day all-India strike to push the demand, and the date would be decided later.

Stating that there was "massive shortage" of nurses in different parts of the country in government hospitals, she said that the Government should not delay posting trained nurses to fill vacancies. There should, however, be no posting of nurses on contract basis. She said that the federation was opposed to the move of the Centre to convert the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research into an autonomous body.

"We oppose the move tooth and nail as autonomy would be injurious to patient care services," she said. She would take up the matter with the Centre. She said the wages and service conditions of the nurses working in private hospitals and nursing homes should be taken care of by the Government as they were being exploited with poor pay and long hours of work. She also wanted a Nursing Council to be started with the Union Territory now witnessing mushrooming of private medical colleges and also nursing colleges over the years.

Earlier, Mrs Khurana held a meeting registering views of nurses working in the government hospitals and in the JIPMER here. She clarified various legal points in the question-answer session held as part of the meeting.

Assistant General Secretary of the federation Ms. Manju Sharma, chairperson of the JIPMER Nurses Welfare Association Ester Nalini, secretary of the Trained Nurses Association of Puducherry R. Geetha and a host of delegates were among those who participated in the deliberations.

Representatives of the Confederation of Associations of Government Employees C.H. Balamohanan and its secretary R. Anandarajan were also present.

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