Draft notification on minimum wages for pvt hospital staff within a month: Kerala Minister

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government will issue a draft notification revising the minimum wages of employees in the private hospital sector within a month, State Labour and Education Minister V. Sivankutty said on Monday, signalling a decisive move to ensure wage security for thousands of healthcare workers across the state.

Chairing a review meeting on the issue, the Minister said officials of the Labour Department have been directed to complete all formalities for issuing the draft notification under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.

The proposed revision is aimed at protecting the interests of nearly 1.13 lakh employees working in around 2,200 private hospitals across Kerala.

Sivankutty said the move had become necessary as most private hospitals are currently paying wages based on the 2013 minimum wage notification, after the Kerala High Court struck down the 2018 notification.

The continuation of outdated wage rates, he said, has adversely affected the livelihood security of healthcare workers at a time when the cost of living has risen sharply.

To address the issue, a Minimum Wages Committee headed by the Labour Commissioner held multiple rounds of discussions between December 2023 and May 2025.

However, the Minister said no consensus could be reached due to what the government described as the uncooperative stance of representatives of private hospital managements.

While management representatives proposed only a marginal increase over the 2013 wage rates, the Labour Department recommended a 60 per cent hike based on the same notification.

The proposal was welcomed by trade unions but rejected by management representatives.

Sivankutty pointed out that even a meeting of the Industrial Relations Committee convened on December 27, 2025, under his chairmanship, failed to make any progress as management representatives stayed away.

The government, he said, was of the firm view that the wage structure suggested by hospital managements was inadequate to meet the basic living requirements of workers and their families in the present economic climate.

“In these circumstances, the government has decided to proceed under Section 5(1)(b) of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948,” Sivankutty said, adding that the department secretary had been given clear instructions to publish the draft notification in the official gazette within a month.

The Minister reiterated that the government remains committed to ensuring fair, periodic and sustainable wages for workers and would take all necessary steps to safeguard the rights of employees in the private healthcare sector.

IANS