Resident doctors of Delhi’s largest municipal hospital threaten strike

In the strike notice submitted to the North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Friday, the Hindu Rao RDA has stated that salaries for the last 83 days is currently pending and if funds are not released by January 15, doctors will withdraw from services

At a time when Covid-19 cases are surging and health-care facilities in the national capital are bracing for a third wave of infections, the resident doctors’ association (RDA) of Hindu Rao Hospital, the largest municipal health-care facility, has threatened to go on a strike over non-payment of salaries and arrears.

The doctors at the Hindu Rao Hospital had last announced a strike over salary delays in November 2021, but they later withdrew the strike on being assured timely payments. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

In the strike notice submitted to the North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Friday, the Hindu Rao RDA has stated that salaries for the last 83 days is currently pending and if funds are not released by January 15, doctors will withdraw from services. The development comes on a day when the north corporation announced that 100 beds in Hindu Rao and 50 beds in RBIPMT Hospital will be reserved for Covid patients. The order issued by the director, hospital administration, states that hospitals should make Covid beds functional immediately while other services will continue as usual.

The doctors at the hospital had last announced a strike over salary delays in November 2021, but they later withdrew the strike on being assured timely payments.

Dr Tanuraj Tyagi, president, RDA, said in another week, it would be three months since they received salaries. “Salaries are our right and while urging us to call off the strike in November, the administration had assured us that salaries will be credited to our accounts before 15th of every month. They (administration) have once again gone back on their word. We have not been paid for since October. Similar backlogs exist in all north corporation run facilities,” he said.

The strike notice submitted to the medical superintendent said, “We the resident doctors deployed at North Delhi Municipal Corporation and Hindu Rao Hospital wish to express our anguish and despair. We are sadly bound to write this letter to put into your cognizance about the ongoing delay in salary disbursement. It has been more than 83 days of diligent duties performed without hard earned salary.”

Dr Sridhar Mudhiraj, vice president, RDA, said doctors have already exhausted the savings and are no longer in a position to meet their day-to-day needs. “Last time, residents had called off the strike based on promises given by the administration which have not been kept. If salaries for two months is not disbursed before January 15, 2022, unwillingly, we will have to withdraw from non-emergency services,” he said.

The development comes at a time when the North MCD administration had already announced that it plans to utilise the hospital as Covid designated facility in case the need for hospital beds rises.

Hindu Rao has a provision of 250 oxygen beds and 50 ventilator beds and an 1000LPM oxygen generation plant which was set up after the second wave of Covid-19 in April-May 2021. The nurses and paramedics are also expected to join the strike.

Indu Jamwal, who heads the nurses association at Hindu Rao, said their strike notice will be submitted on Saturday. “Our salary is pending for two months and we are acutely short of staff. During the last strike, the administration assured us that vacancies will be filled but no action has been taken in this regard. With rising number of Covid cases, the caseload burden will be transferred to the existing staff,” she said. “At least the sanctioned posts should be filled. There are 144 sanctioned posts of senior nursing officer of which only 17 are occupied. There are 304 posts for nursing officers and only 253 are currently occupied,” Jamwal said.

Leader of the house, North corporation, Chhail Bihari Goswami said the civic body has completed the preparation for meeting the Covid surge at two hospitals and other units will be added soon. “We are working to release the pending salaries of health workers and a resolution will be found soon,” he said, when asked about the strike notice.

The three civic bodies continue to reel under a severe financial crisis with staff and health workers having to work without salaries, which could prove a hurdle in expanding the Covid facilities. Last year, in October the doctors and healthcare staff at Hindu Rao Hospital had gone on strike over non-payment of dues and Covid patients had to be transferred to LN hospital and Aruna Asaf Ali hospital.