Mumbai resident doctors threaten ‘bheekh maango andolan’ over recurring delays in stipend payments

Resident doctors at Mumbai’s Cooper Hospital say recurring stipend delays affect EMIs and financial planning, and threaten a ‘bheekh maango andolan’.

Resident doctors at Mumbai’s Dr R.N. Cooper Hospital have threatened to launch a protest called ‘bheekh maango andolan’ over recurring delays in the disbursal of their monthly stipends, saying the irregular payments are affecting their financial planning, loan repayments and daily expenses.

Mumbai resident doctors allege monthly stipend delays, with payments often arriving between the 10th and 15th, and plan to approach the municipal commissioner.

Resident doctors in Mumbai receive stipends of over ₹90,000 from the medical colleges in lieu of the services rendered. “We had to raise our voices and threaten a protest before the stipends were credited to us post-Diwali,” president of the Cooper unit of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) Mayur Choudhary said.

Their concerns, however, are not limited to last month’s stipends. “When the entire hospital is run by the resident doctors, how is it that our stipends are always delayed. The only other people in our hospitals who do not get their payments on time are the contract housekeeping workers of the hospital, who have not been paid for over two months,” Choudhary added.

Resident doctors said it was “unfair” to them as all senior staffers and even academic professors receive their salaries on time, on the first of every month.

“If there is any administrative issue, then how come it tends to affect only us and not the other category of staffers. All other admin and teaching staff receive salaries on 1st of every month but the 225 odd resident docs who run the entire hospital, always receive it randomly anywhere between 10th or 15th of the month,” Choudhary said.

Doctor Vishal Mule said that their stipends were important because many of the doctors hail from rural parts of the state and their families are also dependent on these payments for their sustenance.

Doctors from the BMC’s MARD stated that while stipends at Cooper were substantially delayed quite often, the situation was similar, or just marginally better, at other BMC medical colleges too.

“Stipends tend to be reasonably on time at Nair and Sion Hospital, while they tend to be very delayed at Cooper. Many of us have EMIs and other expenses to handle and regularity would help,” president of the BMC’s MARD Rutuja Raut said.

She added that they had also raised this issue with Shailesh Mohite, director of BMC’s medical education and major hospitals, seeking that they receive stipends in the first week of every month to help them plan their finances better.

The MARD representatives have also raised this issue with various officials and plan to take it up with the municipal commissioner after Diwali.

Medical director Shailesh Mohite and medical superintendent of Cooper Hospital Chhaya Shinde did not respond to calls and messages.