NURSES
A VOICE TO LEAD
International
nurses day is celebrated every year on the birthday of Florence nightingale by
the International council of nurses which will put forward a theme every year.
This year theme is Nurses – a voice to lead achieving the SDG. ICN calls
for nurses around the globe to become the advocates of health care. This calls
for so many questions especially on the image of nursing in a country like
India which produces largest number of nurses every year.
WHY
INDIAN NURSES ARE INTERNATIONALLY ACCEPETED?
Whether
it be in the arid zones of gulf regions or it be in cold frozen zones of Alaska
or be it in a warzone Indian nurses were there exhibiting the commitment
towards their patients and with extended and flexible work timings. This made
India the favorite hub of International recruiters around the globe and we have
lived and worked up to their expectations. That’s one of the major reasons when
many countries in western world denied work visa for people from other
profession Indian nurses were always welcomed. It is not because there is no
nursing colleges and nursing students. Thanks to our sisters and brothers who
laid a path for us..who were committed to work at any given situation which
encourages them to appoint nurses with a highly paid job and good status in the
society .
NURSES
AND KERALA….
There
is a huge association between nurses and Kerala. Nursing is one of the most
selected careers by an average malayalee family. Whether the student who choose
the career like or not is secondary when it comes for nursing. The primodial
reason behind this blind choice of career is the ocean of opportunity this career
provides to nurses once they fly abroad.
I repeat…once she/ he goes abroad. Parents force the children to
choose nursing because they have seen families raised from poverty…families
stabilized if one child from the family had become a nurse and went abroad. So
an average malayalee who dreams of a stable life will send their child to
nursing...never in the life they would have imagined to achieve the dream of this
financial security their ward has to swim seven oceans of obstacles.
Nurses
in Kerala are going through a revolutionary stage under the able leadership of
UNA. All these years’ managements were exploiting us. One was the absence of a
stable leadership which is now solved after UNA came into existence.
Managements had a thought in mind that nurses all are working for experience
which is essential for their abroad dreams. So keeping it as the Q card they
were playing the game. If you strike your certificate will be denied. The poor
girl or boy who hails from middle class family thinks about the future. I guess
they also have in mind even the leaders keep on changing because when they will
go to abroad at a point of time and gradually the organization will become
weak. But UNA proved that it were the day dreams of someone. We will fight for
our rights.
I
would like to quote my experience here. After my post graduation I was working
in a private hospital. I agree that I was a fresher. But I never did any less job...
I did the same job which was done by all. I was paid INR 1000, 0 in my hand. I
was paid 333.33 rs per day. Every other unskilled or semiskilled person earns a
salary more than that. A person who
spends 7 whole years of studying...Who have worked for sleepless nights to
clear the exams was well paid off. I was shattered, undignified and was
depressed. But by commitment and sincerity was never compromised. That was
something what my teachers taught me. Never work for salary...work for your
happiness. I didn’t have any loan to pay back. I waited for a chance patiently
and moved to another city where things were better. Where I was given self
respect. I am happy. But it is not the situation with all… I have a friend who worked for eight years in
an ICU who was paid only 6500 per months. She was suffering never compromised
on her job but lived with a hope that one day I will migrate to a foreign
country where nurses will have a dignity and a value.
I would like to quote that it’s not only in foreign
countries nurses should be respected or dignified. We deserve it in our home
country also. We are not a supplier of foreign income to country but we are
also a part of this society. I saw managements asking the media “have you
ever heard anyone increasing the salary of any cadre at stretch anywhere
else in the world?” MY QUESTION BACK TO THEM IS “have you ever heard anywhere
else in the world educated professional nurses are paid less”? So
managements enough are enough. We are not asking for anybodys mercy we are
asking for our rights.
LET THE NURSES IN KERALA BE THE VOICE OF
CHANGE …LEAD US THE WAY UNA….. FIRST WE SHOULD BE ADVOCATES OF OUR RIGHTS….THEN
ONLY WE HAVE THE RIGHTS TO BE THE ADVOCATES OF OUR PATIENTS AND SOCIETY…..
TOGETHER WE WILL LEAD AND BE THE
CHANGE……..
PARVATHY
I AM A NURSE AND I AM PROUD OF IT J
