Nursing Association's strike drags on into its eighth day today.

The Ministry of Health reports that the CWM Hospital recorded a significant increase in nursing staff numbers with 59 registered nurses working the night shift yesterday with the average working strength over the last 24 hours increasing to 39%.

The Ministry also reports that three operating theatre nurses who were on strike have also returned to work however there is still a shortage of nurses in the specialized areas of Intensive Care cardiac, and accident and emergency services. However, 4 surgical operations were conducted at CWM last night without any problems.

In the Western Division, the Lautoka Hospital continues to operate with 27 registered nurses who attended to 133 patients yesterday while in the North, nurses at the Labasa hospital have now reverted to the normal 8 hour shifts as there are sufficient number of nurses available to attend to the patients.

The Ministry stresses that the prolonging of the nurses strike will lead to a serious risk of cases booked for surgery or other special investigations becoming an emergency which would put further stress on the current work force.

It reports that Divisional and sub divisional health centers continue to cope with the situation as they prepare for another night with adequate nurses.