Imphal, Aug. 27: Doctors and patients of the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) breathed a sigh of relief today as the 400-odd nurses who were on strike since Friday donned their aprons and got back to work today.
The nurses went on a ceasework strike from 6am on Friday, demanding better service conditions and regularisation of posts of 153 of their colleagues working on a contract basis.
Functioning of the hospital remained paralysed till this morning despite the authorities engaging students of nursing schools and trained staff from other health clinics to replace the nurses on strike.
The nurses agreed to resume duties after a talk with a team of hospital authorities, led by director L. Femate, late last evening.
The hospital authorities agreed during the negotiations that nursing staff members whose promotions were pending, would be awarded the same within a month. They also decided to consider the demand for regularisation of services of nurses working on contract.
Another decision taken was to speed up the process of establishing a nursing school at the institute. Regarding the demand for creation of more nursing posts, the director said the institute had forwarded the proposal, which was now in the hands of the Union health ministry.
A source at the institute said the Union health ministry had taken serious note of the strike.
The institute was upgraded to the status of AIIMS in February this year, following a package announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to Manipur last year.