Nurses of government hospitals in Delhi have been protesting against the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission. According to the Secretary of the Delhi Nurses Union, in the 6th Pay Commission recommendations, only provisional pay fixation has been done for nurses whereas employees in all other sections are being given the new salary scale. There are several anomalies in the promised pay scales for different categories of nursing personnel, including those involved in public health and teaching duties, as well as for different levels of seniority.

A relay hunger strike has begun at Jantar Mantar from February 16. The General Secretary of the All India Government Nurses Federation has announced that they would resort to stopping work for two hours each day, from February 24 to 27, one day mass casual leave on March 3 and if the authorities still continue to be indifferent to their demands, then an indefinite strike from March 5. 

Earlier, on February 3, the agitating nurses had submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister, highlighting their grievances.

Nurses of all major government hospitals of Delhi, including Safdarjung hospital, RMLH, LNJP, Railway hospitals, ESI and Police hospitals, are taking part in the agitation.

Meanwhile, health workers (group C and D) of all major government hospitals in Delhi began an indefinite strike on February 24, to protest against the government’s indifference to their demands. They have been demanding that hospital patient care allowance be made part of the basic pay and brought at par with the nursing allowance. They are also demanding a new wage scale for paramedical services, the constitution of a Paramedical Service Council of India and an end to outsourcing and contract labour of any form in the government health services.

The strike has affected cooking, cleaning, laundry and laboratory services in Safdarjung hospital, Kalawati, Lady Hardinge, Hindu Rao, Rajan Babu T.B. hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhaya, G.B.Pant hospital and other government hospitals in Delhi.