Private hospital managements in Kerala have accepted the government’s decision to pay revised salary to the nurses, who have been on protest demanding better wages, as per a Mathrubhumi report. 

The decision was taken at a meeting of private hospital managements held in Kochi on Sunday.

It is reported that the managements took the stand in the meeting that they would pay the revised salary while still maintaining that the new salary fixed by the government was too high. 

The hospital managements also decided that hospitals will not be shut down under any circumstances. 

The managements have also sought a mechanism for wage revision to avoid strikes in the future," reports the Times of India.

The Catholic church managements had earlier said that they were willing to pay the salary fixed by the government. 

Earlier, the nurses associations had declared an indefinite strike from Monday, to protest against the unsatisfactory pay revision stipulated by the Industrial Relations Committee (IRC), designated by the government.

The private hospital managements had approached the High Court, which on Friday directed them to invoke ESMA (Essential Services Maintenance Act).

The United Nurses Association, the largest association of nurses, on Saturday decided to halt the strike, following an invitation by the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to hold talks. 

Representatives of hospital associations will have talks with the CM on Thursday.

However, the Indian Nurses Association, which has members working in more than 30 hospitals, has decided to continue the strike. 

The nurses’ protest, demanding better wages, began in June. 

The IRC last week had revised the wages. But the demand to fix basic pay at Rs 20,000 for nurses working in all hospitals, irrespective of bed strength, remained unfulfilled.

Meanwhile, the Kannur district administration has asked nursing college principals to suspend classes for five days and to deploy students at various hospitals for countering the nurses strike.