After the demand was not met, 3500 nurses started protesting again from last Friday.
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The nurses of Nepal Manipal Teaching Hospital in Pokhara's Phoolbari have been protesting continuously for the last 3 days, expressing their disagreement over the salary.
After the demand was not met, 3500 nurses started protesting again from last Friday. The protest, which started on October 12, was postponed on the first day after the hospital administration asked to find a solution to the problem through negotiations.
The main complaint of the nurses is that the salary is very low compared to the workload. Nurse Pooja Fagami said that she had to protest when the issue of salary was raised several times in the internal meeting but was not heard. "We tried to solve this problem internally," she said. After that, we are forced to raise our voice like this.
She told that the salary of a nurse working in a hospital is between 15 and 20 thousand rupees. "We are forced to speak because we are not able to meet our basic needs," she said. If the demand of nurses is met, the salary will be around 35 thousand rupees.
Nurses have been protesting in the hospital premises with placards and slogans throughout the day. They do not raise any objections or slogans against the hospital management and administration. Their only demand is to increase the salary while respecting the work. Placards with slogans such as 'No Pay, No Work', 'Stop Labor Exploitation', 'We save lives, it's time to save our own', 'Implement daily wages' etc. are with them.
A discussion was held on Sunday between the hospital administration, representatives of the Nepal Nursing Association and the protesting nurses. The hospital administration has replied that the demand regarding the salary of the nurses cannot be met. The hospital is ready to add some facilities after discussion. Shankar Bahadur ji, the information officer of the hospital, said that both sides have kept their points and will hold talks again on Monday. Now we have requested you to go according to what we have offered. It was also discussed today that the work will be started and the discussion about their demands will be carried forward," he said.
366 nurses are working in Manipal. Hospital services have been affected after the nurses protested. The hospital has not admitted new patients. The patients in the ward have been sent home and to other hospitals. He said that OPD, ICU and emergency services have not been stopped. According to him, patients who need to be admitted have been verbally referred to other hospitals.
The government had decided on 081 November 27 that the salaries of nursing and health workers working in health institutions should be implemented in such a way that their services and facilities do not decrease. Nurses from various hospitals across the country, including Manipal, have started agitating against this decision.
At the same time as the nurses went on strike, the hospital has advertised for new appointments. The hospital did not release the required number of staff nurses, HA and ANM-CMA on Saturday. requested. On the one hand, the hospital has opened a new advertisement and on the other hand, it has warned the nurses through email that action will be taken in accordance with the Emergency Services Operation Act, 2014 and the Labor Act, 2074.
information officer G. claimed that the new advertisement is under regular process. "Every day 4-5 nurses resign. Even if there was no movement, we should have taken out this advertisement,” he said.
