Rims outsources services after nurses go on strike

RANCHI: The Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims) had to outsource nurses' work on Sunday from district health services and nursing schools in the city to run the hospital after staff nurses boycotted work demanding revised pay. Talks to defuse the crisis have also failed.
More than 150 nurses from various government health centers of Ranchi and 250 trainee nurses from different institutions were pressed into service on a temporary basis as 400 staff nurses went on a pen-down strike from Saturday midnight and have threatened to go on complete strike from Sunday midnight.
"Arrangements were made on Saturday evening. There was no difficulty in operations of the hospital wing," Rims superintendent Dr S K Choudhary said.
A delegation of the nurses met additional chief secretary (health) Sudhir Kumar Tripathi at Nepal House as the health ministry attempted to pacify them. But the meeting yielded no result as the nurses refused to call off the strike.
"Our demands were not met and hence, the strike. Emergency, labour and neonatal wards were kept out of the protests today (Sunday). However, if the government does not wake up to our demands, there will be complete boycott from Tuesday," Ram Rekha Rai, president of the Junior Nurses' Association of Rims said.
The protesters include 44 senior nurses and 360 nurses who were regularised last year. All of them have been demanding pay revision as per the standards of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi after the Rims teaching faculty received a hike in 2017 at par with AIIMS staff.
Sources said Tripathi objected to the demands of the nurses, saying that revisions cannot be done unless a new policy is formed and approved. This irked the nurses and they refused to call off the strike.