AIIMS nurses call off strike after talks with AIIMS administration
Dec 15, 2020
New Delhi [India], December 15 : The nurses union of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi on Tuesday called off their strike following several hours of meeting with AIIMS administration.
As many as 5000 nurses went on an "indefinite strike" on Monday over redressal of their demands, including those with regard to the 6th Central Pay Commission.
"AIIMS nurses union has called off their strike and will resume their work. AIIMS administration held a meeting with the nurses union and all their demands were heard," Dr Randeep Guleria, Director of AIIMS told ANI.
Earlier, in the day the Delhi High Court had stayed the indefinite strike called by the AIIMS nurses and asked them to resume work.
Also, the AIIMS administration in the day also issued a letter to the protesting nursing staff stating that they should report for duty with immediate effect or will be marked as absent.
On Monday evening, Dr Guleria appealed to the agitating nurses not to go on the strike stating that "a real nurse will really never abandon her patients."
"It however seems inappropriate when a country is fighting a pandemic, it is unfortunate at this point in time the nurses union have gone on a strike," he said.
Harish Kajla, President of AIIMS nurses union before going on strike said: "The government had failed to consider our long pending demands which included the 6th Central Pay Commission and the government has turned down our demands."
"It is also shocking to us that AIIMS administration decided to recruit nursing officers on a contractual basis immediately, which is against our strike demands," said Kajla.
Guleria further informed that the nurses union had actually put in 23 demands. He claimed that almost all of the demands have been met by the AIIMS administration and by the government.
AIIMS director further mentioned that interpretation done by the nurses union is not correct and this is beyond the provision of the gazette notification but because the nurses union were asking for a hike in the salary, the government was sympathetically looking at this as the fresh demand and asked the department of expenditure to consider this.
