Hindu Rao staff unpaid for three months, protest on hospital premises

At least 250 staffers at the Hindu Rao Hospital, including paramedics, nurses and sanitation staff, protested at the hospital premises on Friday morning demanding

At least 250 staffers at the Hindu Rao Hospital, including paramedics, nurses and sanitation staff, protested at the hospital premises on Friday morning demanding salaries due for the past two months and arrears pending since a year and a half.

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“Around 600 workers have not received their salaries for April-May. Even June is about to end now and there is no certainty as to when will we get our dues. It has become difficult to survive. We had written multiple letters to the administration as well as the mayor, but to no avail. Hence we had to sit in strike in order to be heard,” said Tajender Gujjar, a technician and president, Para Medical Technical Staff Welfare Association.

He added that workers were surviving on borrowed money. “Anyways, we have been putting in extra hours because of the pandemic. People have run out of money. Everyone has bank loans and school fee to be paid. How do we survive like this?”

A senior official from the North Corporation, under which the hospital falls, said that they had not received funds from the Delhi government for this quarter had hence, could not pay the staff. “We are pursuing the matter with the Delhi government to release the funds for this quarter. As soon as we get the funds, salaries will be disbursed,” the official said.

Delhi government officials could not be reached for comment.

Indu Jamwal, nursing officer, who has been with the hospital for long, said, “It is very difficult to manage without money these days. This has been the case for at least five years that payment of salaries has been erratic. We are made to suffer between the tussle between the corporations and the Delhi government.”

Recently the resident doctors association of the hospital too had written to the administration for not having received their salaries since April 15.

The hospital is one of the biggest medical facilities run by the North Corporation. The hospital was declared to become a covid-dedicated facility on June 14 but is yet to start admitting covid-19 patients, as it is still in the process of procuring logistics for treatment of such patients.