Sassoon’s healthcare services hit due to day-long strike by nurses 

The state-run Sassoon General Hospital’s nurses participated in a day-long, state-wide walkout by government employees on Thursday, which impacted some critical medical and nursing services. However, the walkout was called off later in the evening. The old pension plan and other demands were the reasons behind the call for the strike.

The hospital management asserted that the strike had no bearing on the quality of care provided to patients. Still, only thirty percent of the nurses who were in charge of monitoring patients’ care, giving them injections or medications, and even tending to wounds or dressing them worked on Thursdays.

Six nurses from Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital in Pimpri were called in by Sassoon Hospital to assist in the care of five critically injured female employees who were involved in an illegal sparkling candle unit fire on December 8 in Talawade. Compared to the twenty to twenty-five elective and emergency surgeries that are done every day, only five surgeries could be completed in the hospital.

State government employees in Pune’s city and district donned a desolate appearance on Thursday as nearly 70,000 employees from every department joined a state-wide walkout organized by their association to demand the reinstatement of the former pension plan (OPS). The strike, which included about 17 lakh workers from 35 unions, was called off late in the evening.