Resident doctors from eight Delhi, Central govt-run hospitals to join north MCD docs’ strike
The doctors will not perform any non-emergency duty between 10 am and 12 noon to support doctors from Hindu Rao and other North Delhi Municipal Corporation-run hospitals who have been on strike for 22 days and on hunger strike for the fourth.
Resident doctors from at least eight hospitals, run by the Delhi and central governments both, have decided to go on a “pen-down” strike for two hours on Tuesday.
The doctors will not perform any non-emergency duty between 10 am and 12 noon to support doctors from Hindu Rao and other North Delhi Municipal Corporation-run hospitals who have been on strike for 22 days and on hunger strike for the fourth.
Doctors from Delhi government-run hospitals like Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Maharshi Valmiki, Bhagwan Mahavir, and Sanjay Gandhi Memorial hospitals have given a notice for a two-hour pen-down strike. Delhi government hospitals like Lok Nayak, Guru Teg Bahadur, and Rajiv Gandhi Super-Speciality that are dedicated for treatment of Covid-19 will join the protest wearing black ribbons.
Central government-run Ram Manohar Lohia, Lady Hardinge Medical College, and Northern Railways hospitals will also go on the two-hour strike, while Safdarjung hospital has come out in its support.
“We are coming out in support of resident doctors from North corporation-run hospitals. Something needs to happen. The resident doctors have not been paid for four months and this time we are demanding a permanent solution, so that they do not have to go on strike every few months,” said Dr Sandeep Yadav, president in-charge of the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) too has come out in support of the doctors.
In a letter, the IMA has said, “The issue of non-payment of salaries of doctors in Hindu Rao hospital is a case of systemic failure. Doctors who have served the nation during the corona pandemic deserve appropriate accolades and incentives. It defies logic that they have to resort to roadside agitations to get their legitimate salaries.”
Over 2,000 senior doctors from five hospitals and all clinics and dispensaries run by the North Corporation have also joined decided to join in with the residents and go on indefinite strike. The doctors all went on a mass casual leave on Monday.
“We have given enough time to the corporation to pay us. We were last paid our salaries for June. We even deferred our strike by a week so that patients do not get inconvenienced, but we still haven’t received our salaries. We cannot keep coming back to the streets every few months to demand pay. We will not accept just one month’s salary this time — we want the administration to tell us in writing what solutions are being explored to resolve the problem once and for all,” said Dr Maruti Sinha, general secretary of the Municipal Corporation Doctors’ Association.
She said doctors were being intimidated to break the strike.
“The administration is even trying to intimidate people to break the strike, some DNB doctors were threatened that their tenure would not be extended, some were transferred out of Hindu Rao hospital. Four doctors from Hindu Rao have been transferred to Rajan Babu TB hospital amid the protests. This happened when others on deputation were called back to the hospital for resumption of non-Covid services. The order came from the medical superintendent, and not the directorate of hospital administration as it usually does,” she added.