more-inThe indefinite strike announced by nurses in the private health sector from Monday, at the height of the on-going fever epidemic in the State, could cripple health care services and put the public to immense difficulties. If the nurses go ahead with their strike plan, private hospitals will have to scale down their services and limit themselves to providing emergency care and limited out patient services, purely in the interest of patient safety, the Association of Healthcare Providers, India, (AHPI) Kerala chapter, the Association of Advanced Speciality Healthcare Institutions, and the Kerala Private Hospitals Association said here on Thursday. They appealed to the government to intervene immediately in the interests of public health and persuade the nurses’ unions to call off their proposed strike. Addressing the media here, vice president of the AHPI Marthanda Pillai and former AHPI president M.I. Sahadulla said the token strike by nurses on Tuesday had seriously affected the functioning of all private hospitals, with most of them forced to limit in-patient admissions and postpone elective procedures.

Source: The Hindu July 13, 2017 18:00 UTC