Nurses, radiologists too on indefinite strike from Friday

Lakhs of nurses in government hospitals and radiologists across the country will go on an indefinite strike from Friday, at a time when Delhi and several other cities are grappling with rising cases of dengue and chikungunya.

The nurses want redressal of issues related to pay and allowances, whereas the radiologists announced the strike after failing to reach a ‘resolution with the Centre on Thursday over outstanding issues’.

“We are not happy with the response of the government and so we will go ahead with our proposed strike from tomorrow (Friday). But, we will attend to emergency and critical cases,” spokesperson of All India Government Nurses Federation Liladhar Ramchandani said on Thursday.

Ramchandani said, “We nurses have deferred the strike twice and recently for one month after proposing it on August 2.”

“But, if the ministry of health betrays us, we have no other option,” he claimed.

The Indian Radiological & Imaging Association had on August 31 given a call for a nationwide indefinite strike from September 1. But after a meeting with the government officials yesterday, the IRIA had decided on a rethink.

“The government assured to look into our demands in two-three months time but no firm commitment, so we have decided to continue with our strike indefinitely,” IRIA president O P Bansal said.

The apex body of radiologists has been demanding to amend a legislation that ‘equates’ even minor clerical mistakes committed during their jobs to sex determination.

“We held our protest at the Jantar Mantar and when we got the communication from the government, we decided that it was not satisfactory, and so the stir would be indefinite now, and radiologists across the country will observe it," he said.

The IRIA chief, however said, ‘radiologist will perform CT-MRI scan and deal with emergency cases of only indoor patients’.

The apex body of radiologists has alleged certain provisions of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act are ‘draconian’ and these need to be amended.

The strike will severely affect radiology services like ultrasonography and other scan procedures.