The administration also defended its decision of hiring nurses on contract basis as a part of their contingency plan to deal with the strike call by the nurses' union of the hospital.

 

"We have no plans of outsourcing nursing. It was only when they decided to go on strike and did not listen to reason that in the last two days we made contingency plans. According to them neither will they work nor allow anyone else to work," the statement by the hospital read.

 

Around 5,000 nurses of the premier health institute advanced their indefinite strike on Monday after they got to know that the institute has started to hire nursing officers on contract basis. The strike which started on Monday afternoon was scheduled to be observed from Wednesday among a long list of demands including clarity on salary structure and a freeze on hiring on contract.

 

The nurses union of AIIMS had said that the decision by the hospital to start contractual hiring forced them to pre-empt their strike. It further said that the decision has come as shock to the whole paramedical staff.

 

"We had clearly stated in our demands that we don't want to be handed over to the private agencies which would keep us on contractual terms of employment. Despite this, the administration acted against it. This is why we have started our strike ahead of our schedule," said Harish Kumar, president, nurses union of AIIMS, told IANS.

 

The nurses of the Centre-run hospital had communicated to the AIIMS administration that they will go on the indefinite strike from Wednesday as their long list of pending demands which include 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 abolishing of gender-based reservation in the recruiting process of nursing officers and contractual appointments, enhancement of hospital accommodation and cadre restructuring.

 

However, the emergency services at the premier hospital have taken a hit and critical care patients have been abandoned in view of the ongoing strike. To control the situation, the administration had asked all the junior, resident and senior doctors to double up for the nurses who are currently on agitation.

 

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has directed the hospital administration to end the ongoing strike immediately. It had also threatened that non-compliance of its direction would be treated as an offence and action against the violators would be taken as per the law.