All these years, they have been taken advantage of,
Now we must give them their due

Everywhere nurses have been exploited, without recognizing the fact that nurses were the backbone of the treatment sector. Exploitation has been the worst in Kerala, as nurses were given a pittance as remuneration.

Most of the institutions have nursing schools and it is very easy for them to manipulate things in such a way that the products of their institutions are kept within their control. They keep their certificates and essential other documents. At least for a year after completion of the nursing course, their services are utilized in return for which they are given a measly sum. Even that sum is used for their living expenses in hostels maintained by such institutions.

Let us not name names of the institutions. All of them were like that. Even institutions which should have taken care of the interests of the nurses like Indian Nursing Council and various state nursing councils have erred in their duty. Human rights panels had looked askance at their plight.
Most of the new lot have to pay back the hefty loans they have taken to complete their studies.

Now there is no way they can be exploited to this extent. The silver lining has surfaced only when the Indian Nursing Council decided that the institutions should return their certificates and there should be no condition of bonds. Accept the fact that bonded labour is over.

A clerk in the central government service gets roughly Rs 50,000 per month. Nurses deserve as much as a clerk gets.

Threats against forming associations, collective bargaining and uproar for better pay packets will not work in the present-day world. Let us treat our nurses with honour.