Kathmandu, Nov. 7 -- A month after September's GenZ movement in Nepal, nurses working in private hospitals took to the streets demanding better work conditions, and salaries equal to what government nurses are paid.

The strike started at Pokhara's Manipal Teaching Hospital before spreading nationwide, and nurses working at government hospitals joined in.

Nurses at private hospitals are forced to work for far less than Nepal's minimum monthly wage of Rs19,550 - without overtime, breaks, and other benefits and under physically and mentally taxing conditions. This is driving many qualified nurses to emigrate.

For newly-appointed Health Minister Sudha Sharma Gautam in the interim government, the strike became her first order of business....