This week began with around 5,000 nursing staff from Delhi’s reputed All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) hospital declaring an indefinite strike, citing “anomalies” in their salaries as the main reason.
Videos of the strike have gone viral on social media – testifying to the strength of the union of healthcare professionals. The staff can be heard chanting slogans calling for the fulfilment of their demands in unison.
#AIIMS Nurses on an indefinite strike @nsgunionaiims pic.twitter.com/4Bq9aawscY
— Utkarsh Singh (@utkarshs88) December 14, 2020
Simmering anger @nsgunionaiims @aiims_newdelhi @aiim pic.twitter.com/ASvTUaAhEi
— Sanjay Kishore (@saintkishore) December 14, 2020
AIIMS Nurses Strike Update:
— vipin krishnan (@chanduksu) December 15, 2020
This is how Corona Warriors are treated now at AIIMS by Police And guards at AIIMS.A Nursing officer is being injured and has been shifted to Safdurgung hospital. @drshamamohd @ShashiTharoor @ArvindKejriwal @Pawankhera #Nursesunityzindanad pic.twitter.com/GEQUl3v84W
AIIMS New Delhi: Nurses Union on Strike outside Jawaharlal Nehru Auditorium. pic.twitter.com/ktQ4nGg2ca
— Dr. Srinivas, MD (@srinivasaiims) December 15, 2020
As the nursing and paramedic staff decided to go on a strike, the emergency services at AIIMS in the national capital have been affected drastically, even resulting in the abandonment of patients who require critical care.
Patients left alone as #AIIMS nurses declare indefinite strike over anomalies in salaries. pic.twitter.com/mWw9XZq6ED
— Radhika Parashar (@_RadhikaReports) December 15, 2020
According to AIIMS head Dr. Randeep Guleria, the nurse union had put forward 23 demands and “almost all of them have been met by the AIIMS administration and the government”, the media has reported. As of now, only payments remain an issue.
This strike by AIIMS comes just days after doctors across the country joined in to protest against the government order allowing Ayurveda practitioners to perform surgical procedures following training.
