In a radical departure from over a century old dress code, female nurses in Government hospitals in Kerala can now wear ‘churidar and overcoat’ as their uniform instead of sari.

Considering the ‘inconvenience’ of sari, the Health Department has decided to allow nurses to wear the “more convenient’ churidar and over coat.

However, the traditionalists could continue to wear sari and the dress code would not be imposed on them.

Health Minister V S Shivakumar has given approval for the proposal for nurses to turn up for duty wearing churidar and overcoat from December one, Health Department sources said.

The State Government Nurses Association welcomed the decision as a progressive step.

“This has been a long-pending demand from our side. We welcome the decision,” the Association’s State Committee Member Somasekharan Nair, told PTI.

“Nurses often find it difficult to change over to sari after coming to hospitals from their home wearing churidar and over coat. Most hospitals do not have dressing rooms. So, they have to change over to uniform by going behind the cupboards in the hospital wards,” he said.

Nurses in many private hospitals in the state had already shifted from sari to churdiar.

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