Nurses in Kerala called off their 116-day strike on Thursday after an agreement was reached with the Christian hospital that employs them to adopt a three-shift system, a mediator in the case said.

Around 100 nurses working in the Mar Baselios Memorial Hospital at Kothamangalam in Ernakulam district were demanding better pay and working conditions. The new shift system is expected to reduce the nurses’ work load.

“All nurses who had gone on strike will be reinstated as per the agreement,” said V. S. Achuthanandan, a veteran communist leader who negotiated between the two sides.

Under the agreement, the hospital will not take punitive action against any nurses who participated in the strike.

Achuthanandan, who is also the leader of the opposition in the state legislative assembly, blamed the government and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy for the strike dragging on for so long.

Three nurses who had threatened to jump off the hospital terrace came down when the strike was called off.

Hospital administration expressed happiness with the settlement.

“Whatever happened in the past is a matter to be forgotten,” said Shibu Kuriakose, a lawyer and secretary for the hospital.

The Syrian Jacobite Church, one of the two factions of India’s Orthodox Church, manages the hospital, which is some 50 kilometers east of Kochi, Kerala’s commercial hub.

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