Relatives of a patient wait outside LNJP Hospital in New Delhi on Friday. Services at several hospitals in the city were severely affected as nurses went on a nationwide strike on Friday. (Photo: Bunny Smith)
Relatives of a patient wait outside LNJP Hospital in New Delhi on Friday. Services at several hospitals in the city were severely affected as nurses went on a nationwide strike on Friday. (Photo: Bunny Smith)
The Delhi government on Friday invoked the stringent Esma, declaring as illegal the nurses’ strike over issues relating to their salary and allowances. The strike severely affected the functioning of state-run hospitals at a time when the city is grappling with rising cases of dengue and chikungunya. About 20,000 nurses from government hospitals run by the Delhi and Central governments have joined the agitation, severely affecting the functioning of hospitals and delivery of services.
The protest has been called by the All-India Government Nurses Federation and the Delhi Nurses Federation seeking redressal of issues related to pay and allowances.
All major hospitals, swamped by patients suffering from vector-borne diseases, tried to reach a common ground with their respective nurse associations, but in vain.
A senior Delhi government official said that the lieutenant-governor has approved the government’s proposal to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act against the agitating nurses. Esma allows the government to declare a strike illegal in public interest.
The strike has hit patients the hardest, as most of the routine operations were cancelled, OPD timings were curtailed and emergency services were also affected. “No routine surgeries have taken place and elective surgeries have been postponed at our hospital. We are managing with interns and contractual nurses as not a single regular nurse is on work. We have been badly affected,” said a senior doctor Kalawati Saran Children’s hospital.
Situation was similar at RML and Safdarjung and Delhi government hospitals, like LNJP and G.B. Pant, with many surgeries being rescheduled and OPD timings affected. Services were also affected at civic bodies hospitals like Hindu Rao and Kasturba.
About 60 nurses for RML were detained by the police on Friday morning for obstructing work.
Authorities at AIIMS said barring a couple of nurses, all regular nursing employees are working.
The nation-wide agitation has come at a time when Delhi and several other cities across the country are battling rising cases of dengue and chikungunya. At least 487 cases of dengue have so far been reported in the national capital this season, with 368 of them being recorded last month. Eight deaths due to it have also been reported. At least 432 people have been diagnosed with chikungunya in Delhi so far.
The Delhi government runs nearly 40 hospitals out of which LNJP Hospital is the biggest. Other major hospitals under it include GTB Hospital, DDU Hospital, Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital and Chacha Nehru Child Hospital.
The nurses federation claimed that services were affected at all these hospitals.
Among the centrally-run hospitals, Safdarjung Hospital which employs 1,100 nurses, including 160 on contract, too suffered on account of the stir.
Many of its doctors, and technicians are already down with mosquito-borne fever and the strike has further hit its services. The hospital has reported three dengue deaths in July, and 263 dengue cases and nearly 250 chikungunya case till August 29.
