Delhi nurses warn of mass leave and indefinite strike as token protest fails
Delhi Nurses Federation (DNF) has threatened to go on mass casual leave from November 16 and launch an indefinite strike from November 30 since their symbolic three-day 9-11 am strike did not see any results.
The symbolic strike that ended on Friday briefly affected services across Delhi government hospitals for three days as hundreds of nurses refused to work from 9 am to 11 am, demanding regularisation of services and long-due promotions.
“Since the symbolic strike…did not yield any outcome, our members will go on a mass casual leave on November 16 to press for our demands,” said DNF secretary-general Liladhar Ramchandani. The DNF also tweeted about its decision on Friday.
@ArvindKejriwal Even after Symbolic 3 days protest of DNF throughout the hospitals of GNCTD. insensitive attitude of Govt. towards Nurses and Patient continues.
Nurses forced to MASS casual leave on 16 Nov
Indefinite Strike W.E.F. 30 Nov 2#Post Creation mean better patient care. https://t.co/PxnviLOrrG— Delhi Nurses Federation♐ (@DNFDelhi) November 4, 2022
Delayed due to dengue
Ramchandani said the mass strike has been postponed because of increased dengue cases. “Due to rising dengue cases, we have decided to take further course of action after three weeks from now. If our mass casual leave protest does not move authorities to look into our demands, we will go on an indefinite strike from November 30,” he added.
The DNF has also issued a statement on its next course of action. All major state-run hospitals in Delhi, including LNJP Hospital, GB Pant Hospital, DDU Hospital, GTB Hospital, Dr BSA Hospital, Dr Hedgewar Hospital, and SGM Hospital among others, were affected by the symbolic strike, said Ramchandani.
Also read: Why Delhi nurses are protesting, what this says of capital’s healthcare
However, he added that the three-day two-hour strike affected OPD services but not emergency or ICU. “Emergency and ICU services were not affected as nominal staff worked to render these two,” he explained. At GB Pant and Dr BSA hospitals, many nurses sat together and raised slogans to pitch for their demands.
All moves fail
According to Ramchandani, there are 6,000 nurses for 8,000 sanctioned posts. “Three new hospitals have come up, and staff from other government hospitals have been diverted there. There has been an addition of beds, but no addition to nursing staff,” he had said earlier.
DNF members had recently marched to the Delhi Secretariat to press for their demands, including regularisation of services, promotions, and creation of new posts.
“The Arvind Kejriwal government’s health secretary and health minister are not serious about the problems of nurses. That is why there will be a symbolic strike,” the DNF had tweeted on Tuesday. “We apologise for the inconvenience and difficulty patients will have to face during the strike,” it added.
(With agency inputs)
