Fri Jan 31 18:12:30 UTC 2025: ## Kerala Nursing Interns Face Retaliation Over Strike, Claim Associations
**Kochi, January 31, 2025** – Nursing associations in Kerala are demanding action against medical and nursing superintendents at the Government Medical College Hospital, Ernakulam, for allegedly retaliating against nursing graduates who participated in a recent strike. The superintendents are accused of issuing experience certificates that mark the graduates’ strike participation (January 6-8) as “unauthorized absence.”
The strike, organized by the Kerala Compulsory Nursing Services Association, protested discrepancies in night duty assignments. The association claims they notified authorities in advance. The inclusion of the strike in the certificates, the associations argue, could harm the graduates’ job and higher education prospects, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The Kerala Compulsory Nursing Servicers’ Association and the State branch of the Trained Nurses’ Association of India have formally requested action from Health Minister Veena George and the Principal of Government Nursing College, Ernakulam. They describe the superintendents’ actions as “inhuman treatment.”
Hospital authorities maintain that a “still working certificate” reflecting the students’ attendance was issued, and a more lenient approach will be adopted for the final certificate. However, the nursing associations remain adamant in their demand for disciplinary action.
First Piper 