KATHMANDU: Nurses and health workers at Bir Hospital staged a protest on Tuesday in solidarity with staff nurse Jyoti Ranabhat, who has been on a hunger strike since Shrawan 14.
The demonstrators gathered inside the hospital premises carrying placards with slogans such as “Not only the government, even patients do not respect us,” “Increase our salaries, not our blood pressure,” and “Develop advanced nursing practice.”

Ranabhat is demanding that nurses be placed under an appropriate salary structure, that labor exploitation in the nursing profession be ended, and that nursing education be made more qualitative and standardized.

She began her hunger strike from the premises of the Nepal Nursing Council. After her health condition deteriorated, she was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Bir Hospital. The protest reflects growing dissatisfaction among nurses over pay, working conditions, professional recognition, and the quality of nursing education in Nepal.