CM Oommen Chandy seeks MPs’ help in nurses’ recruitment

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has urged MPs from the state to strongly urge the centre to address the present crisis in overseas nursing recruitment following the new recruitment system.

The meeting held on the eve of the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament also discussed various issues that the MPs may raise in the house, including inclusion of sea erosion as a natural calamity.

Speaking at the conference, the Chief Minister also said that the delay in issuing the final order for Vizhinjam port project was only due to technical reasons and there were no other hindrances. All reports in this regard were baseless, he said.

Urging the MPs to highlight the issue in the nursing sector in the Parliament, Mr. Chandy said that hundreds of nurses from the state were losing overseas job opportunities because of the present impasse in recruitment caused by the new procedures.

The state welcomes the decision to restrict recruitment through government agencies. But it should have been made effective after making necessary preparations like talks with foreign employers.

Though the state government had already taken up the issue with the centre repeatedly, no favourable decision had come, he said.

The MPs were also urged to press the centre to consider sea erosion as a natural calamity. Since sea erosion is not considered a natural calamity, no central assistance could be availed for protecting coastal areas.

Pressing the centre to meet the entire cost of the Sabari rail project, seeking a price stability fund for rubber and expressing the state’s objections to making fresh water rivers as part of the national waterway project were the other matters discussed at the conference.