NEW DELHI: Several nurses, including a Malayali nurse injured in the skirmish between police forces and nurses, during the nurses strike at Delhi AIIMS. The peaceful protest ended in a blitzkrieg when raged upon the striking nurses. Police unexpectedly reached the protest site in Delhi AIIMS and removed the protesting nurses forcefully.

The nurses who reached the main gate of the institution by morning were blocked by police forces. This created a skirmish between the two groups. In between this, a Malayali nurse was allegedly beaten up by police personnel with a lathi. The nurse’s leg was injured. The strike of nurses are going on in front of the director’s office. High police security is arranged within the AIIMS campus.

Nearly 5,000 nurses went on strike stopping patient care services at the hospital even as AIIMS director urged them to call off their agitation and resume work. Images of a deserted AIIMS ward went viral on social media, showing a scary reality in the middle of a deadly pandemic.

Emergency services at the premier hospital in Delhi have been affected and critical care patients have been abandoned in view of ongoing strike. AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria called the strike "inappropriate and unfortunate" during the ongoing pandemic. "I appeal to all the nurses and nursing officers not to go on strike, and not to make us feel embarrassed about the dignity that we have as far as the nurses are concerned," Randeep Guleria said. "I, therefore, appeal to all of you to come back and work and really help us get through this pandemic."

Following their strike, the Union Health Ministry directed AIIMS director to ensure there is no disruption of nursing functions.

The ministry also said non-compliance of the "code of conduct", laid down as per a Delhi High Court judgment, whereby no employee or staff or faculty member will cease work for any reason, will be treated as an offence under the Disaster Management Act.

The nurses' union's demands 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 abolishment of gender-based reservation in the recruiting process of nursing officers and contractual appointments, enhancement of hospital accommodation and cadre restructuring.