A directive has been issued to the Labour Department to draft a notification within one month to revise the minimum wages of employees in private hospitals, Minister for General Education and Labour, V Sivankutty, announced on Monday.

He affirmed the government's commitment to ensuring wage security for around 1.13 lakh employees working in approximately 2,200 private hospitals across the state.

The move comes as the government has concluded that the wage structure proposed by hospital managements is insufficient for a worker or family to survive in present-day conditions. Therefore, invoking Section 5(1)(b) of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the department secretary has been instructed to issue a draft notification within one month, revising the minimum wages of private hospital employees.

Sivankutty stated that since the High Court struck down the 2018 minimum wage notification, most hospitals have been paying wages based on the 2013 notification.

He added that, while a Minimum Wages Committee, led by the Labour Commissioner, held discussions in multiple phases from December 2023 to May 2025 under his chairmanship, they were not fruitful. He said the management representatives' uncooperative stance led to a lack of consensus.

According to Sivankutty, the management proposed only a nominal increase based on 2013 rates, while the trade unions accepted the Labour Department's proposal of a 60% hike over the 2013 wages. This, however, was rejected by the management representatives.

He added that subsequently, a meeting was convened on December 27, 2025, under his chairmanship, which the management representatives did not attend.