Chandigarh: After a three-day mass casual leave followed by strike, the operation theatre technicians at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here resumed work Monday morning after the management assured them of meeting their pay hike demand within six weeks.
The situation at the hospital was back to normal after around 300 operation theatre technicians ended their indefinite strike late Sunday night following a couple of meetings with the senior officials of the PGIMER authorities.
Members of the Operation Theatre Technical Staff Association had gone on strike Sunday morning, demanding a pay hike.
Earlier, they had gone on three-day mass casual leave from Thursday to Saturday and seven of their employees had shaved their heads in public, to lodge their protest.
"PGIMER management has assured us to fulfil our demands in the next six-week time. We were satisfied with the assurances of senior officials and, therefore, we decided to end the strike," Naresh Gautam, secretary of the Operation Theatre Technical Staff Association, told reporters.
Around 300 surgeries are conducted at the PGIMER daily but during the last four days only around 200 surgeries were performed with the help of nurses. The disruption has inconvenienced patients and their attendants.
The operation theatre technicians demanded salaries equivalent to their counterparts at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. They also demanded time-bound promotions irrespective of available vacancies and change in recruitment rules.
"The health ministry has already accepted their demands and this matter is pending with the finance ministry. We have decided to push this matter and are hopeful that it would be cleared soon," a PGIMER official said.
PGIMER, a leading medical institute, is visited by thousands of patients everyday. A few months back, the sweepers` association had gone on strike, demanding release of their salaries which were held up for the past three months, and PGIMER management had to hire services from outside to clean the garbage.
IANS
