At least 40 surgeries were cancelled at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Tuesday due to a protest by the nurses’ union — seeking reinstatement of their suspended president — which was called off at night after the Delhi high court, noting “crippling of the hospital’s functioning”, directed the nurses to resume work “immediately”.
“Since the action of the union would cause great prejudice and also seriously impede and impact the functioning of a medical institution, the respondent union is directed to ensure its workers…immediately rejoin work until further orders…,” said justice Yashwant Varma.
On April 22, a group of nurses headed by union president Harish Kajla entered the main operation theatre to protest against the shortage of manpower in the nursing department, and also allegedly misbehaved with a resident doctor. Show cause notices were sent by the hospital to four members of the nursing staff for disruption of services and misbehaviour with duty doctors, and on Monday, Kajla was suspended with “immediate effect”.
Advocate Satya Ranjan Swain, appearing for AIIMS, told the court that Kajla instigated, threatened and created an atmosphere of fear among nurses and other staff.
Late on Tuesday evening, the nurses union said they are calling off the protest.
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