5,000 AIIMS nurses go on indefinite strike over salary hike, appointments

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ The AIIMS-Delhi Nurses’ Union went on an indefinite strike from Monday over their long pending demands, including those with regard to the Sixth Central Pay Commission, following which the Union health ministry 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.

From Monday afternoon, around 5,000 nurses went on strike, hampering patient care services at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here. In a video message, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria termed the strike as “inappropriate and unfortunate” in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and appealed to nurses to call off their agitation and return to work.