Nurses are not slaves!

There are millions of nurses working in the private hospitals of India for as little as Rs1000($18)-Rs3000($54) a month! Remember a doctor is paid hundred times or more with other perks.The owners are minting money too. But the nurses, who run the whole show, are paid a pittance. They are neglected , ill-treated and humiliated.   

These nurses undergo a professional course of 2-4 years duration after 12 years of schooling. There are many among them who are graduates too. And still these highly qualified youngsters-both men and women- are working up to 12 hours for a pittance! Further, they are ordered around, made to work for 12 hours and persecuted and humiliated all the time. They take the brunt of the anger and emotional outburst of the doctors, patients and hospital owners.

In a poor country like India most of them finish their studies with huge loans from financial institutions. When they get a job the parents are elated. The debt can be paid up in a few years and then something will start coming to the poor family. But With the pittance they get and the ordeal they have to undergo, every hope is shattered.

The young girls know the frustration of their parents as a big dowry has to be arranged by them for their marriages.  The pressure of long arduous work, with the inability to pay back debts and the awareness of the tension of their parents  drive the girls to suicide.

A civilized society cannot engage in slavery. Any work should be suitably paid. An uneducated daily laborer gets Rs400-500 a day (Rs12,000-15,000 a month)in a state  like Kerala. A highly qualified nurse is paid just Rs2000! This is deplorable and below the minimum wages set for the private sector. This is an injustice done to the hapless youngsters. Measures should be in place to stop this exploitation worse than slavery.  Let them be decently paid and treated like humans.