Claiming that the proposed revision of minimum wages for hospital staff will push healthcare costs by at least 40%, private hospital managements in the State have urged the government to take steps to protect the industry.
Addressing the media here on Tuesday, Kerala Private Hospitals Association functionaries said the salary hike proposed by the Minimum Wages Advisory Committee was around 133% higher than the existing wages. The Supreme Court had recently dismissed a petition filed by the managements opposing the proposed wage hike for hospital staff. The committee has since notified the wage hike.
Suhas Pola, Kozhikode district treasurer of the association, said the number of patients visiting private hospitals had come down by 30% in the past four months because of the rise in treatment costs necessitated by the interim increment being paid to the staff. If the proposed hike was implemented, healthcare costs would have to be raised again.
He said the proposed hike, coupled with the recurring expenditure on modern equipment, would lead to a crisis in the system. As healthcare industry demands constant investment to keep it going, the current situation was likely to discourage investors.
A. Mohammed Haneefa, district president, claimed that around 70 small hospitals in the State were on the verge of closure. Twenty-five hospitals in Malappuram district had already closed down. Farhaan Yasin, secretary, said the association had filed an objection before the minimum wages committee, pointing out their inability to implement the proposed wage hike. The association would observe ‘Hospital protection day’ on January 11 urging the government to “save the Kerala model of healthcare,” he said.
Meanwhile, the United Nurses Association (UNA) alleged that private hospital managements were resorting to revenge tactics against nurses who had joined the strike seeking better pay structure. Some were dismissing nurses en masse, Abeesh Khan A., district president, UNA, said in a release. The association would take out a march to the Kozhikode collectorate on Wednesday demanding the managements implement the proposed wage hike.
