KATHMANDU: Nepal Nursing Council (NNC) and Nepal Nursing Association (NNA) today demanded the government to immediately put an end to the ongoing political intervention at health institutions.

Mana Kumari Rai, outgoing registrar of NNC blamed that the Health Minister was interfering in latter's regular monitoring of the nursing colleges. She added that one of the jobs that the NNC was doing was monitoring of the nursing colleges once a year, in which colleges not maintaining minimum standard wer punished.

Rai also alleged that the minister himself owed a nursing college at Dhanusa which do not meet a minimum requirement, and therefore be punished.

Addressing an interaction programme today in the capital, Rai said that bureaucracy should run under a system and the political interference at technical field must be ended.

Daya Laxmi Joshi Baidya, outgoing president of NNC demanded that the government stop promoting commercialisation in nursing education.

She further said that the nurses had also proposed the government for establishing nursing colleges with 100 beds.

Takma KC, outgoing vice president of NNA said that government was not working according to the six-point agreement hammered out a month ago. KC warned that the government should take responsibilities for if the protests continued and the demands unheard.

Agitating nurses have also demanded establishing a separate nursing department in the Ministry, increment of dress allowance, provision of night duty allowance, promotion of all assistant nurse midwives who have passed the intermediate level to staff nurse, provision of paid leave to complete study up to the masters' level among others.