Surgeries postponed at AIIMS as 5,000 nurses go on strike; emergency shuts for first time

New Delhi: Close to 90 surgeries had to be postponed at AIIMS after around 5,000 nurses went on strike.

The move severely affected patients as the emergency unit closed for the first time in the premier institutes history.

Several patients were forced to visit other hospitals in wake of the nurses' strike, even as the AIIMS authorities likened the protest to "blackmailing and arm-twisting" of administration at the cost of poor patients.

The nurses' union at AIIMS has been demanding higher pay than what has been recommended by the 7th Central Pay Commission. They have also threatened to go on an indefinite strike from March 27 if their demands for revision of pay scales and a hike in allowances are not met. AIIMS officials said they have forwarded their demands to the Health Ministry.

A majority of the patients who came to the trauma centre today were forced to go to the nearby Safdarjung Hospital and others hospitals.

The security guards deployed at the gates turned away patients from the emergency department, which treats around 2,000 patients every day.

Those who managed to get inside had to spend hours waiting for doctors to see them.

(With PTI inputs)