Directorate of Information & Publicity 
DIRECTORATE OF INFORMATION AND PUBLICITY
GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI
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New Delhi : 02nd September, 2016
An indefinite strike notice of nurses was given by All India Government Nurses Federation and Delhi Nurses Federation to proceed on strike w.e.f. 02/09/2016 due to pending demands with Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India and Govt. of NCT of Delhi. Pursuant to this, all the categories of regular nurses have proceeded on indefinite strike since morning of 02/09/2016. Due to this strike most of the routine operations were cancelled, OPD timings were curtailed and emergency services were also affected.
In addition to normal workload, a large number of fever cases are being reported in hospitals and dispensaries due to more rain fall this year (Till date 487 cases of confirmed Dengue and 432 cases of Chikungunya have reported and 2 deaths have already been reported). For these patients, special arrangements in hospitals and dispensaries have been made by Delhi Government to provide effective health services. The strike by nurses at this juncture will cause immense hardships for the patients who need emergency care and treatment. A direction has also been received from Ministry of Health, Government of India that to maintain smooth health care services for the patients, all possible arrangements including invocation of provision of Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), 1968 may be put in place.
Therefore, the Lt. Governor of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, in exercise of powers conferred upon him under section 3 read with section 4A of the Haryana Essential Services Maintenance Act 1974 (Haryana Act No. 40 of 1974) as extended to the National Capital Territory of Delhi vide Govt. of India, Ministry of Home Affairs Notification No. GSR 526(E) dated 30/07/1993, has declared the above-said services as essential services in public interest and prohibited the strike by Nurses of Government Hospitals and other medical facilities in National Capital Territory of Delhi for a period of six months.
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