AAP attacks BJP over strike by municipal doctors

While Delhi health minister Satyender Jain said that the MCDs, which are ruled by the BJP, have funds for putting up hoardings but not for paying doctors, AAP incharge of MCD affairs Durgesh Pathak said the North civic body was harassing senior doctors who were supporting their protesting colleagues.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party over non-payment of salaries to doctors of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation-run Hindu Rao hospital.

The resident doctors of the Hindu Rao hospital, the biggest municipal hospital in Delhi, and Kasturba Hospital are protesting to demand salaries of the last three months. (HT Photo)

While Delhi health minister Satyender Jain said that the MCDs, which are ruled by the BJP, have funds for putting up hoardings but not for paying doctors, AAP incharge of MCD affairs Durgesh Pathak said the North civic body was harassing senior doctors who were supporting their protesting colleagues.

The BJP rejected the charges as baseless.

“Salaries are paid by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Instead of paying doctors’ salaries, don’t know where MCD is spending its funds. They have money for hoardings but not for salaries,” Jain said.

He said that the government has written a letter to the civic bodies asking them to hand over hospitals to Delhi government if they were not able to properly run them properly.

“It is evident that the municipal corporations are not able to properly run and manage their hospitals. We have written a letter to BJP led MCD to handover hospitals to Delhi govt, to avoid any further inconveniences to the medical, para-medical staff, and the patients coming to the hospital,” he said.

The resident doctors of the Hindu Rao hospital, the biggest municipal hospital in Delhi, and Kasturba Hospital are protesting to demand salaries of the last three months. Both facilities are run by North MCD.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the Municipal Corporation Doctors’ Association (MCDA) had said it has already has given sufficient time to concerned authorities to resolve the issue and pay the salaries, “but they have not done anything to solve the problem, and instead appear to be unconcerned with the plight of doctors”.

Pathak said, “Doctors in the MCD hospital are protesting for not having received their salaries for around five months now. It is shameful that instead of disbursing their salaries, the BJP-led North MCD is threatening to remove four senior doctors who stood in support of the protesting resident doctors and nurses. Their transfer orders have already been issued.”

He further said, “We demand that the BJP-ruled MCDs revoke the transfer orders against the four senior doctors, stop harassing them and pay salaries of the pending employees. If they cannot do so, they should hand over the charge of their hospitals to the Delhi government.”

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that Pathak’s statement on transfer of doctors is “baseless”. He further said: “North MCD has not transferred any doctor. It is a matter of short deputation from one hospital to another in the light of temporary staff shortage. Delhi BJP advises AAP leaders to stop playing dirty politics during the health emergency. Instead, the AAP government should come forward and extend financial package immediately to help ending the strike including of doctors in the MCD hospital.”