Will address issues: Governor to nurses

Continuing its protest to improve the working conditions of nurses of private hospitals in the city,members of the All India Nurses Association met Governor K Sankaranarayanan on Saturday to discuss the matter. A six-member team submitted a memorandum to Sankaranarayanan seeking reassessment of salaries,better working working conditions and scrapping of the bond system.

“Many nurses come from poor families and are subjected to harassment,cruelty and even sexual exploitation by the hospital management. There are laws for private security guards,dock workers,but none for private nurses,making them vulnerable and voiceless. The hospital staff unions,consisting majorly of ward boys, are politically inclined ,making it difficult for the majority of the female nurses to discuss their problems,” said Dr Abraham Mathai,president,All India Nurses Association.

Mathai added the Governor had promised proactive efforts to look into the matter.

The nurses have demanded salaries on par with their government counterparts,elimination of the bond system and proper nurses’ unions in each private hospital. The nurses have also alleged that the relief certificates handed out by the management of the Asian Heart Institute have fake signatures.

“There is a clear difference of signatures from our earlier certificates. Handing over fake documents is just a way of harassing us,” said Deepu Shyam,a former nurse at the hospital. The hospital management has denied the allegation.