Nurses call off strike after AIIMS administration assures them to resolve their problem

New Delhi: Over 5,000 nurses of Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) who had gone on an indefinite strike on Monday (December 14) over their long-pending 23 demands, including those with regard to the Sixth Central Pay Commission, have called off their strike on Tuesday (December 15, 2020) evening. 

The president said that the administration has assured to resolve their problem. "We will also go to the court after studying the court's order in detail," stated the president.

Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court's restrained the nurses union of AIIMS from continuing with their indefinite strike.

Justice Navin Chawla passed the order on a plea moved by AIIMS against the strike by the nurses.

The court restrained the nurses from going on strike till further orders after AIIMS said it was considering the grievances of the union. It also issued notice to the nurses union and listed the matter for hearing in January 2021.

Meanwhile, the recent reports say that the doctors at the emergency ward had to return upto 50 per cent of patients on Tuesday due to lack of staff.

"The patients who did not require critical medical assistance at the moment were requested to visit other facilities for their treatment. We only treated the patients who came in extremely bad shape," the chief medical officer (CMO) on duty told IANS.

The nurses went on an indefinite strike over their long-pending 23 demands, including those with regard to the Sixth Central Pay Commission. The nurses' union's demands include correction of an anomaly in the fixation of the initial pay as per the Sixth Central Pay Commission (CPC), redressal of issues such as the abolishment of gender-based reservation in the recruiting process of nursing officers and contractual appointments, enhancement of hospital accommodation and cadre restructuring.

The Union health ministry also stepped in and directed the institute's director to ensure no disruption of nursing functions. The ministry also said non-compliance of the 'code of conduct', laid down as per a Delhi High Court judgment, whereby no employee or staff or faculty member will cease work for any reason, will be treated as an offence under the Disaster Management Act.

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