No government hospital in Kerala will be privatized, says state health minister | Today’s news

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Health Minister K Muraleedharan on Thursday said that no hospital under his department in the state will be privatised.

Talking to reporters here, Muraleedharan said the government would not allow any private company, no matter how big, to take over any hospital under it.

“I assure you that no hospital under the Ministry of Health will be privatized,” he declared.

On the strike by nurses of two private hospitals in Thrissur, the minister said he attended a meeting along with labor minister Bindu Krishna with representatives of private management and trade unions.

Hospital management said at the meeting that if the minimum wage law was implemented, they would make changes to nurses’ pay, he said.

“However, the implementation will take at least two months, as we are currently receiving objections to the legislation after its publication to call on the public. We have informed the management of the situation and asked them to increase the nurses’ salary in the meantime by ₹4,000. But they did not agree to that. Negotiations are still ongoing,” said the minister.