Headlines
Chandy seeks Sushma's intervention for Indian nurses in Britain
New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram, July 3
Kerala
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday requested External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj to take up with the British government the
proposed amendments in their immigration rules which will affect nurses
from the state.
Chandy met Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi and
prevailed upon her to take up the change in the United Kingdom
immigration rules that will adversely affect migrants from India,
especially nurses from Kerala, from 2017. The rule stipulating that
migrant workers have to leave Britain after six years if they do not
earn at least 35,000 pounds per annum would especially affect them.
He
told her that media reports reveal that over 30,000 nurses from India
and other non-European countries employed in Britain's state-funded
National Health Services (NHS) will be forced to leave under the new
rules.
"Nurses in Britain, on an average, earn salaries between
21,000 and 28,000 pounds in a year. At present, the number of nurses
from India is estimated to be 17,000 of which 70 to 75 percent are from
Kerala," said Chandy.
In a memorandum submitted to her, he said
he wished to bring this issue to her notice and requested her to take
suitable steps to prevail upon the British government and avert a
situation of mass return of migrants.