Indian Medical Association looks the other way as doctors back hapless colleagues

KOCHI: The Kerala chapter of the Indian Medical Association, the doctors’ body, has kept a studied silence on the demands raised by the striking nurses. They have not come out with any statement so far as several members of the body run hospitals in the state. Dr N.K. Sanil Kumar, a leading surgeon and member of the Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer Movement, said, “nurses are qualified staff and several of them took bank loans at high interest rates to study. They have to repay their loans. In Kerala where trade union activism is high, it is only natural that nurses demand a reasonable pay. The hospitals are exploiting the nurses. They have not been organised so far and hence their demands have not come in the public realm. The hospitals are legally bound to heed the Supreme Court directive,” he said.

Dr P.G. Balagopal, medical superintendent, Kochi Cancer Research Institute, said, “at a time when a manual labourer gets Rs 800 per day in the state, the nurses should get a reasonable pay. The IMA has the responsibility to intervene in the issue and solve it,” he said. However, IMA Kochi chapter president Dr M. Narayanan said that middle-level hospitals find it difficult to hike the wages while corporate hospitals may not have a big problem.

“Compared to other states, the private hospitals here charge less on patients. They cannot hike the salary of nurses alone. Along with that, the salaries of lift operators, drivers, kitchen staff, maintenance staff and housekeeping staff have to be hiked. Once this is done, the hospitals will be forced to pass it on to the patients which will create a difficult situation. The government has proposed almost 100 percent hike for nurses at Rs 17,200. We will come out with an official statement in this regard in two-three days,” he said. United Nurses Association state committee member M. Harris said the majority of the IMA members were sympathetic to their cause.