Striking nurses unrelenting Talks to end stir inconclusive

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, April 28: Talks between the high level talks committee formed by the Ministry of Health and the representatives of nurses of the Bir Hospital remained inconclusive today.

The Ministry had formed a four-member special committee consisting of two special secretaries at the Ministry Dr. Somnath Acharya and Ms. Bijaya K.C., joint secretary at the Ministry Rebati Raj Kafley and chief accounting officer of the Ministry to hold talks with the nurses on the latter’s demand. The nurses had gone for a complete strike from Friday.

Meanwhile according to a report, the officials and the Director of the Hospital Dr. Ram Prasad Shrestha were locked up inside the hospital saying they would not be allowed to come out until a way out is found. The nurses are keeping a stage-in at the hospital.

With more than 200 nurses continuing with their strike for the second day today, all services, except emergency, at Bir Hospital has come to a standstill. The hospital has stopped admitting patients and doctors themselves are trying to run the emergency service doing everything from checking pulses, giving injections and even dressing the wounds.

An on-duty doctor told The Rising Nepal that they are doing only emergency management and sending the patients to other hospitals.

From 3 to 6 in the afternoon 15 patients were referred and sent to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital and the Patan Hospital. The ambulance of the hospital was also busy taking the patients to other hospitals.

"For serious cases, we stabilize the condition and refer them to other hospitals," he said. The emergency section of the hospital is also facing severe shortage of basic things like sterilization of equipment.

However, talks between the representatives of the striking nurses and the Ministry of Health started today at about 12:30 P.M. between the representatives of nurse and the Ministry.

The nurses said the hospital management was not involved in the talks saying that the hospital management and the Ministry are the same. The talk was still going on till late in the evening.

The nurses sound determined to get their demands fulfilled. One of them, Durga Shrestha who is the in-charge of the Haemodialysis section, said they are willing to fight till the end. "We would prefer to quit the job if our two major demands of night allowance of Rs. 125 per night and a health hazard allowance of 50 per cent of the salary are not met," she said. They are presently getting Rs. 20 per night as night allowance.

The whole problem cropped up after the government increased the salary and cut down all other allowances.

The major grudge of the nurses is that while the other staff in the hospital like in the radiology and lab departments continue getting such allowances, they are the only ones who are devoid of the facility. "Even doctors are getting the night allowance of Rs. 250 for every night they are on duty," one of the nurses said. "Why do they get and we don’t?" nurses asked. They said the others got the allowances because they went strongly to the management and the hospital management has always taken us lightly.

"The hospital management neither say our demands are illogical nor they are irrelevant or there is a budgetary constraint, but always say they need more time to study on our demands," Shrestha said.

This time, too, they had given a 10-day ultimatum before the strike. "When the management did not make any decision we went for a two-hour token strike on Wednesday and a five-hour strike on Thursday and on Friday then we went for total strike," Shrestha said.

While the nurses have said that they are even willing to provide their services in case of emergency and if the doctors call them, but this has not happened, others said. The nurses say the death of three patients in the hospital on Friday was merely a coincidence and not because of their strike.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Bir Hospital Development Committee Dr. Sudeep Kumar Bhattacharya resigned on Friday and on the same day the board of the hospital met and made some decision regarding the nurses’ demands. A statement signed by Dr. Ram Prasad Shrestha said the nurses would get Rs. 100 as night allowance and an extra duty allowance according to their salary and 12.5 per cent incentive to all the employees of the hospital. But the nurses say the decision was illegal as the statement was not formally brought out and also it was made by the meeting chaired by the chairman who has already resigned. Now, the nurses say they want a concrete and just solution to their demands to make them return to work.

Their Majesties grace ceremony

Kathmandu, Apr. 28 (RSS): Their Majesties the King and Queen graced the auspicious rice-feeding ceremony of Medhavi Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah, grand daughter of Her Royal Highness Princess Sharada Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah and Kumar Khadga Bikram Shah at Sharada Sadan Kamaladi today.

Crown Prince granted audience

Kathmandu, Apr. 28 (RSS): Their Imperial Majesties Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko received in audience His Royal Highness Crown Prince Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo this afternoon.

His Royal Highness Crown Prince Dipendra also attended the luncheon hosted by Their Imperial Majesties.

Earlier in the morning, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Dipendra received in audience Their Imperial Highnesses Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko.

Reception in honour of Crown Prince

Kathmandu, Apr. 28 (RSS): His Royal Highness the Crown Prince graced a reception hosted in his honour by the Japanese Alpine Club in Tokyo this evening.

Welcoming HRH the Crown Prince, the President of the Japanese Alpine Club stated that the present visit of HRH the Crown Prince will contribute to further strengthening the ties of friendship between the people of Japan and Nepal, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Ryotaro Hashimoto expressed his happiness that HRH the Crown Prince was able to accept the invitation to visit Japan and was confident that Japan will continue to be a partner in Nepal’s development endeavours.

Mr Surendra Prasad Chaudhary, Minister for Science and Technology, and Royal Nepalese Ambassador to Japan Kedar Bhakta Mathema accompanied HRH the Crown Prince.

The accompanying Minister thanked the club members who have been instrumental in bringing the people of Nepal and Japan closer.

Inauguration

Kathmandu, Apr. 28 (RSS): Chairman of the Rajparishad Standing Committee Dr. Keshar Jung Rayamajhi inaugurated the 9th general meeting of the Nepal Diabetes and Nutrition Society here today.

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Rayamajhi said that patients suffering from diabetes should observe their diet.

Member-Secretary of the society Bhagwati Nepal presented the report of the activities being carried out by the society in the past years.

At the function chaired by the society’s president Madhav Rajbhandari, vice-president of the society Rajaninath Pyakurel and president of Helping Hands Dr. Gupta Bahadur Shrestha expressed their views.

Trial production of electricity in Lamjung

Lamjung, Apr. 28 (RSS): Trial production of electricity from a 200-watt scheme run through P. T. 2000 technology at Bahundanda VDC-1 in Lumjung district has started from Friday.

The Rural Development Centre provided technical assistance to the scheme which was completed through grant assistance of Rs. 20,000 from Lamjung DDC, Rs. 20,000 from bahundanda VDC and voluntary contribution of the local people equivalent to Rs. 25,600.

Seventeen families of the VDCs have benefitted from the project.

According to programme officer Krishna Raj Sharma, the scheme will be carried out for a month

Destitution behind flesh trade, lament Badi women

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Dang, Apr. 28: "We have taken the clients’ satisfaction as our religion. As flesh-trading is our ancestral profession and our religion has allowed us to get involved in it, we cannot give it up," says Pabitra Nepali (Badi), resident of Dang Khola village of Dang district.

Nepali, 45, has been a commercial sex worker for the last 18 years. She has no regrets of adopting flesh-trade as a means of livelihood.

"We have been earning a living by involving in this profession for years, it has become a part and parcel of our culture. If we abandon it, how can we preserve our traditional culture and make our living?" she asks.

An estimated 600 women are believed to be working as Commercial Sex Workers (CSWs) in Dang district alone. The people from Badi, Darmali and Jhimre communities living in Kalakhola, Pakraiya, Bagar and others have adopted flesh-trade as their traditional profession. Their main concern is how to solve their daily hand-to-mouth problem.

Women involved in the profession say that they have adopted it both as their tradition and poor economic condition. They say they charge Rs. 100 from each client for giving them physical satisfaction and the money is used to support to their families. Because of their profession the Badi women and their community have been subjected to social hatred and discrimination.

However, many Badi women nowadays have begun to feel the pinch of virtual social outcast. However, they are compelled to adopt the profession because they do not know any other trade. Expressing her pains, Malati Badi says, "We have been involved in this profession because it is our culture. But now nobody looks at us positively. We are despised from every sector."

She also says they have supported to their families even by losing their social prestige.

Meanwhile, in the last few years, some local people in the district have started campaigns against the flesh-trade. They have begun conducting various activities by forming reformation committees to control the flesh-trade in the areas.

The number of clients visiting the Badi villages is said to have decreased considerably due to the activities of the anti flesh-trade campaign. The women involved in the profession seem to have been worried with the decreasing number of clients.

Panmati Badi says that a large number of clients used to visit the village in the past. "But as the committee has campaigned against the flesh-trade, their number has gone down. We are against the campaign of the committee as, for us, there is no alternative to selling our bodies," she says.

All those involved in the profession have the same thing to say. They demand the provision of alternative employment opportunities. "If we have to abandon it, we should be given alternate opportunities."

But Khadga Bahadur Budha, coordinator of the Society Reformation Committee of Pakraiya village, says that since the women have not given up their profession even after getting financial and other support, the process of administrative action has been started against them.

Expressing her disagreement with Budha’s statement, Pima Badi blames the committee is trying to bring an end to their profession.

"The committee has no right to force us to give up our tradition. It has to provide us with other opportunities to make a living and to support to our children before they tell us to stop selling ourselves," she says.