Hours after nurses in the Capital went on strike on Friday, the Delhi government declared the strike illegal by invoking the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA).
Medical services in most city hospitals were affected with nearly 2,000 nurses staying away from work, demanding revision of pay scale and allowances.
The agitation is a part of a nationwide protest with over 70,000 government nurses going on an indefinite strike on Friday.
“The Lieutenant-Governor has approved the government’s proposal to invoke ESMA against the agitating nurses,” the Delhi government said in a statement.
The nurses are opposing the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission and demanding immediate redress of issues related to pay and allowances.
The State government has reasoned that invoking ESMA -- which allows the State to declare a protest illegal if it is against public interest -- was necessary as the city hospitals are facing an ‘epidemic like’ situation and are overwhelmed with patients with vector-borne diseases like dengue and chikungunya.
During the day, patient care suffered as most hospitals had to use nursing students and those on contract to handle the massive patient load. About one-third of the total nursing strength in Delhi is on contract and was called in to help tackle the situation.
Nurses across the city held protest rallies near their hospitals and the police detained some nurses from Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in the morning. The protesting nurses were pushed and bundled into buses and take to the Parliament Street police station.
Ms. G. K. Khurana, of the All India Government Nurses’ Federation, said: ``Nurses across India have joined the strike. A few detentions and invoking ESMA doesn’t deter us. The strike is going to continue. We strongly condemn the manner in which the Centre is treating its employees.’’
She said the Federation has been struggling for over nine months seeking a hike in the entry-level pay scale. Nurses from all Central government hospitals, Delhi government hospitals, all Uttar Pradesh government hospitals, PGI Chandigarh, SGPGI Lucknow, ESIC hospitals and Railway hospitals across country are part of the protest.
“Despite numerous talks we are not happy with the response of the government. So we will go ahead with our strike. But, we will attend to emergency and critical cases,” said Federation spokesperson Liladhar Ramchandani.