Chandigarh: Over 2,000 nurses to go on strike from Tuesday, resident doctors refuse to work in their place

“It is unfair that we are forced to do duties which are usually performed by the nurses,” Avinash Kumar, vice president of the ARD, PGI, told Chandigarh Newsline. “Last time, we managed and cooperated with the administration, but, this time we are informing the ministry that we will not perform such duties again.”

He added that resident doctors at AIIMS, New Delhi, also would not perform the nurses’ duties. “The PGI administration should other make arrangements in case the nurses go on a strike,” said Kumar.

The confrontation between the ARD and the institute came to the fore last month when 2,000 nurses of PGI held a 24-hour strike, crippling health services at the institute, and the resident doctors were assigned additional duties and had to take charge in their absence.

On Friday, a meeting between the association of nurses and the health ministry also failed to break the ice, following which the association announced to go ahead with the strike.

“There was a meeting Friday with the additional secretary, health ministry, in New Delhi. It was not fruitful and we have decided that we will continue with our strike,” Lakhvinder Singh, president of the PGI Nurses Association told Chandigarh Newsline. “We have also informed the ministry about going on strike from Tuesday,” he added.

The PGI Nurses Association, under the banner of All India Nurses Federation, is protesting against the 7th pay commission recommendations in which the starting grade pay of the nurses has been proposed to be Rs 4,600, instead of Rs 5,400. According to the association, the seventh pay commission has also not recommended the risk allowance and non-practice allowance for the nurses. It added that the nursing allowance was not raised to Rs 7,800 and the night allowance was not being provided. The nurses have also been demanding full pay for childcare leave and conveyance allowance.

The news of the nurses going ahead with the strike from March 15 has disappointed the PGI officials who were expecting some breakthrough on Friday. “We were hopeful that there would be a breakthrough in the meeting in New Delhi. But it is sad that they are going ahead with the strike,” a PGI official told Chandigarh Newsline.

The official added that the institute had already prepared a contingency plan for Tuesday. “We are again deploying the students from NINE. Other steps are also being taken so that patients face less inconvenience,” the official said.

Another factor worrying the PGI institute is the resident doctors refusing to perform the duties of the nurses.

“The patients are going to suffer badly, if they (resident doctors) refuse to work in the absence of the nurses,” said an official from the administration. “Last time, we managed because of the residents, who played an important role and worked in the absence of the nurses.”