New Delhi: A day after its president was suspended for allegedly disrupting OT patient services in the city's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) earlier this week, the nurses' union of the hospital went on an indefinite strike from Tuesday.
On Monday, nursing officer Harish Kumar Kajla, who also presides over AIIMS Nurses' Union, was suspended. The order, which states that "disciplinary proceedings are contemplated" against Kajla, was signed by Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS.
Demonstrating against the “unilateral decision,” the striking nursing staff in the prestigious medical institute sloganeered against the hospital administration on Tuesday morning. They demand immediate revocation of Kajla’s suspension and “stopping of all kinds of retaliative measures against union executives and union members of main OT.”
Suspension order against Harish Kumar Kajla
The matter pertains to a flash strike called by the nurses' union on April 22, which reportedly led to the cancellation of over 50 planned surgeries in several departments, including paediatric surgery, general surgery, gynaecology, and urology. The nurses were protesting over the workforce shortage while raising the issue of the non-safety of female nursing officers.
The union has been raising these issues for many months now, but to no avail, Kajla told NewsClick in a telephone interview on Tuesday. "We wrote many letters, but no one came forward from the administration's end to resolve the matter," he said.
On April 22, as the nurses went on strike, Kajla claimed that they demanded the hospital administration talk to us on Tuesday. "But, again, no communication was received," he said, adding that the strike was "promptly called off" the very next day when one medical superintendent assured the union that their issues would be resolved.
Fameer CK, general secretary of the nurses' union, told NewsClick that while the flash strike was called off, union members and other nursing officers, however, received show-cause notices.
According to a Times of India report, in one of the notices to the nursing officers, the institute noted that the patients and their attendants suffered mental trauma, but the lives of ill patients were put at risk due to the cessation of work by nursing staff. "This is a serious issue as surgeries had to be cancelled without notice," the same report quoted the notice as stating.
Union notice expressing reasons behind the indefinite strike
On Tuesday, Kajla, however, refuted this by saying that the blame lies on the part of the hospital administration, which should not have "forced the nursing staff to go on strike." "37 nursing officers, including me, received such show-cause notices, and we responded to them on time. But, only some hours later, I received a suspension order from the administration with no proper explanation," Kajla said.
Fameer CK told NewsClick on Tuesday that all the nursing staff in the hospital will continue their strike until the "wrongful suspension" of Kajla is revoked.
On Monday, in their strike notice, the union said that the "undemocratic" AIIMS administration would be responsible for any consequences faced by the strike action.
Update: Strike Called Off
The AIIMS Nurses Union on Tuesday evening decided to call off its indefinite strike hours after the Delhi High Court directed on the same day the nursing staff to rejoin work immediately.
According to media reports, the AIIMS on Tuesday afternoon made a mentioning before acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi for urgent listing and hearing of its case against the strike.
“Since the aforesaid action of the union would cause grave prejudice and also seriously impact and impede the working of the medical institution, the respondent union is directed to ensure that its workers, including nursing officers, immediately rejoin work forthwith pending further orders being passed in the present writ petition”, a report by Indian Express quoted Justice Yashwant Varma as saying in his order.
