THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former chief minister and Kerala administrative reforms commission chairman V S Achuthanandan has demanded immediate intervention by the government to initiate steps for revising the pay scale of nurses working in private hospitals in the state."A revised salary for these nurses, which was to come into effect from January 2016, has been shelved indefinitely due to the private hospitals managements' stubborn attitude, it is learnt. The nurses are currently getting a maximum daily wage of Rs 350, when even unskilled labourers are getting between Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200," he said in a statement issued here on Monday.With such a low remuneration at a time when cost of living is skyrocketing, the nurses are finding it hard to make both ends meet, he added.Achuthanandan also alleged that the private hospitals were cheating the nurses with low salaries after collecting Rs 500 to Rs 3,000 daily as nursing charges from each patient. "The hospital managements are unwilling to comply with the Supreme Court directions and recommendation by the committee appointed by the apex court to fix the minimum monthly wage at Rs 20,000," he said.The government should intervene immediately to end this huge exploitation by the hospital managements, he reiterated.Meanwhile, the United Nurses Association (UNA) has warned that the association will decide whether the private hospitals should function from June 28 or not, "if Tuesday's meeting of the minimum wages advisory board, under the private hospitals-industrial relations council, does not take a decision in favour of nurses"."The agitation will turn against the Indian Nursing Council and Kerala Nursing Council if both the organizations do not intervene," UNA state president Jasmin Shah said at the convention held here on Monday.

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