Delhi HC tells nurses at AIIMS to resume work

Delhi High Court on Tuesday restrained thousands of protesting nurses of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) from continuing their strike over their long-pending demands and asked them to resume work. Meanwhile, AIIMS has also published a walk-in-interview notice for the recruitment of filling up the post of Nursing Officers.

New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Tuesday restrained AIIMS Nurses Union from continuing with their indefinite strike till next of hearing which is January 18.

Justice Navin Chawla has directed the union to restrain from strike after AIIMS said the grievances of the union were being considered by the authorities.

Meanwhile, AIIMS has published a walk-in-interview notice for the recruitment to fill up the post of Nursing Officers on contractual basis for a period of three months.

AIIMS invites walk in interview

AIIMS administration also issued letter to the protesting nursing staff stating, "It may be ensured that attendance of all the Nursing personnel who report for duty is mandatorily recorded and those absent, to be marked as such."

Reacting on this issue, Harish Kajla, president, AIIMS nurses’ union said, "Our union is ready for talks with the administration. We’re feeling bad for patients but we’re helpless as our demands haven’t been met. We had given notice for a strike a month ago but even then, the administration didn’t listen to our demands."

"In order to deliberately neutralize our strike, they have temporarily started the process of recruitment of nurses by keeping the rules on a contract basis. The nurses who are being employed do not have experience in this work. The salary of the nurses placed on the contract basis is very low, due to which they are unable to pay full attention to their work. We are requesting everyone to support us," he said.

AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria also appealed to the nurses to call off their strike and return to work, stating that "a real nurse will really never abandon her patients".

R Bhushan, Secretary Ministry of Health said that there should be no cessation or disruption of nursing functions in AIIMS nor such an action aided or abetted.

About 5,000 nurses began their strike on Monday afternoon.

Their demands include the correction of an anomaly in the fixation of the initial payment based on the Sixth Central Pay Commission, addressing various matters such as removal of gender-based reservation in the recruiting process of nursing officers, the abolishment of contractual appointments, enhancement of hospital accommodation and cadre restructuring.

To contain further participation in the nurses' strike, the AIIMS administration on Monday had directed its faculty members and staff not to cease work, shout slogans, hold demonstrations or meetings within the campus or around 500 meters of the radius of the institute's boundary.

Reportedly, AIIMS, through its counsel VSR Krishna, told the court that these are services matters and discussions are held at regular intervals to look into grievances. The court issued a notice and posted the matter for further hearing on Jan 18, 2021.