Discussions resumed on Monday after the Nepal Nursing Association announced that the strike would continue, saying that its demands other than salary had not been met.
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The Ministry of Health has initiated discussions after the nurses' strike did not stop even after the agreement.
On Saturday, the nurses and the ministry, who are protesting across the country, agreed to provide monthly salary facilities to nurses and other health workers working in private hospitals on a par with the government. Discussions resumed on Monday after the Nepal Nursing Association announced that the agitation would continue, saying that demands other than remuneration had not been met.
The ministry's spokesperson Dr. Prakash Budhathoki said that the team of Additional Secretary of the ministry, Dr. Shree Krishna Shrestha, held discussions. Discussions are underway with the association and the leaders of the protesting nurses. On Sunday, the association issued a statement asking nurses across the country to continue the declared agitation. The nurses have started protesting by boycotting services.
The main demand is that nurses and other health workers working in private hospitals should be paid the same salary as in government hospitals. An agreement was reached with the Ministry of Health to provide monthly salary equivalent to at least the fifth level salary set by the government to nurses and health workers working in their hospitals from Kartik. The agreement states that private and community hospitals and dental colleges will provide at least 80 percent of the current level of the fifth level as specified by the government.
It was agreed to prepare an action plan for the payment of remuneration equivalent to the fifth level by classifying the hospitals within a month. Assistant nurses of the fifth level working in the health service receive a minimum monthly salary of Rs. 34,730. It is even higher when grade rates are added to it. But there are complaints that nurses working in private hospitals have not received even Rs. 15,000.
It was agreed to extend the working period of the committee coordinated by Additional Secretary Shree Krishna Shrestha by 1 month as it will take some time to study in detail the other issues raised by the agitating nurses and health workers, Nepal Nursing Association, and Private Medical and Dental College Associations and prepare a concrete action plan for their resolution. But after the nurses expressed dissatisfaction with the agreement, the ministry resumed discussions.
The agreement, signed in the presence of Sudha Sharma, was signed by Task Force Coordinator Dr. Shrestha, Medical and Dental College Association of Nepal President Dr. Gyanendra Mansingh Karki, Nepal Nursing Association President Chandrakala Sharma, and Association of Private Health Institutions of Nepal President Dr. Padak Khadka.
