Background: Occupational stress is one of the key factors in reducing staff productivity in any organization with physical and psychological impacts  on employees. Nursing is among the most stressful professions. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the extent of perceived level occupational stress and its association with work-related and non-work related variables as causes of stress and work ability among nurses in a Public Medical College Hospital. Methods:  A  cross  sectional study  was  done  among  nurses  in  Shaheed  Suhrawardy  Medical  College Hospital (ShSMCH) dmi.ng July 2015-June  2016 among 197 nurses, selected through a simple random sampling.  Face  to  face  interview   was conducted,  using  a  pretested  semi-structured   questionnaire. Occupational stress and work ability were measured using Expanded Nurses Stress Scale Questionnaire (ENSS) and WorkAbility Index Questionnaire (WAIQ). Appropriate statistical analysis was performed to see the level of significance. Results: Majority  (69.0%) of the study  population were between the age of 21 to 39 years,  94.gG/o were female, 68.0% were married, 79.2% were Muslim, 84.3% had diploma, 91.4% fumily income were equal or more than   Tk 40,000,  95.5%   did    clinical   work.  Some   25.0%  worked  in  medicine ward,  22.8% worked at surgery ward and 90.9% worked more or less than 50 hours per week.  Only 5.1% found to be high stress and 94.6% low stress. Significant difference was found between female and male, occupational stress and religion, educational status, type of work, occupational stress and work ability (p<.0.05). Conclusion: Severe occupational stress is associated with reduced work ability. So, it is recommended to decrease occupational  stress to increase work ability, although identification of sources of occupational stress seems necessary in order to adopt appropriate stress management strategies. Bangladesh Med Res Counc Bull 2018; 44: 113-117