Patna: The strike by nurses working on contract at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) continued for the second day on Tuesday.

The striking nurses denied the IGIMS administration's claim that 20 of around 150 striking employees had returned to work.

The IGIMS administration claimed that the strike didn't affect patient care.

"We have sufficient number of regular staff to take care of the patients," said IGIMS medical superintendent Prabhat Kumar Sinha said on Tuesday.

"The strike didn't hamper hospital services but we have issued instruction to the private agency to hire new nurses in place of the existing ones if the strike continues."

The nurses on contract - hired by M4 Solutions Pvt Ltd - are demanding parity in salary with their counterparts at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

The striking nurses claimed that M4 Solutions had started hiring new nurses by conducting interviews on the IGIMS campus on Tuesday but the striking nurses intervened.

A nurse on strike said they were given Rs 36,000 as salary in November and told that their salaries had been hiked but later M4 Solutions claimed they gave Rs 36,000 by mistake and that it was the salary for two months.