Chennai, May 12 (IANS): Tamil Nadu health minister Ma Subramanian has said that the state government would honour 19 nurses for their selfless services.

While speaking to representatives of the Tamil Nadu Government Nurses Association on International Nurses Day on Sunday, the health minister said that the government would honour the 19 nurses in an event after the Model Code of Conduct is lifted.

Ma Subramanian listed out several measures the DMK government had brought for the welfare of nurses. He said that the government under Stalin had given permanent appointments to 1912 contract nurses. The health minister also said that the nurses recruited by the state Medical Recruitment Board on a contract basis were not made permanent for the past several years but the DMK government has made them permanent.

He further said that 2400 village health nurses would be appointed soon. Speaking about the ‘Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam’ (Medical care at doorsteps) scheme, the minister said that the DMK government had appointed 10,969 health volunteers on a temporary basis for the scheme at a contract salary of Rs 5500 per month.

Ma Subramanian also said that the state government was taking care of various demands of the nurses and added that more than 90 per cent of their requests have been fulfilled. He said that 1412 contractual nurses have been appointed since the DMK government assumed office. The health minister added that the salary of the contractual nurses has been hiked from Rs 16,000 to Rs 18,000 per month.

The minister said that the transfer counselling of nurses was implemented by the present government and added that 9525 nurses have been transferred through counselling sessions by the Stalin government.