Kerala CM assures Iraq-return nurses to receive salary arrears

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday assured that the 46 nurses from Kerala, who were evacuated from violence-hit Iraq recently, would get their salary arrears amount shortly.

Salary arrears would be collected through the Indian embassy and it would be given to nurses, he said at a meeting convened here by Non-Resident Keralites Affairs Department with nurses to discuss issues related to their rehabilitation.

The nurses, who were held captive by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants in Iraq for about a month, returned home by a special Air India Flight on July 5.

Another major issue bothering nurses was their debt at home, he said adding in a bid to provide relief in this regard, an NRI business and NORKA vice-chairman C K Menon has offered to pay Rs 3 lakh to each of them.

Chandy said NORKA would pay the ticket fare to 10 nurses who returned from Iraq on their own at the start of the conflict in that country. Efforts were on to provide them jobs in hospitals in the state itself, he said. Steps also would be taken to get them employed abroad if they want, he added. Many hospital heads who attended the meeting also offered jobs to nurses.

Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly V S Achuthanandan and state ministers K M Mani, K C Joseph, P K Kunhalikutty and P J Joseph were among those who participated in the meeting.

Before the meeting, Chandy had lunch with 46 nurses and their parents at the government guest house, the venue of the meeting. Chandy interacted with nurses to have a first hand account of the happenings during their stay in Iraq. 

Image: One of the 46 nurses who returned from Iraq on July 5.