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Resident doctors of Hindu Rao threaten indefinite strike over pending salaries
The doctors, according to a letter submitted by the resident doctors’ association, said they will withdraw from all Covid-related services that they provide if their pending wage dues are not cleared in the next 48 hours.
Around 250 resident doctors working at North Corporation-run Hindu Rao hospital have threatened to go on a complete strike from Sunday onwards after not receiving their salaries in over 110 days.
The doctors, according to a letter submitted by the resident doctors’ association, said they will withdraw from all Covid-related services that they provide if their pending wage dues are not cleared in the next 48 hours. The nursing staff at the hospital too said they will join the doctors in their strike.
Hindu Rao hospital is the biggest municipal hospital in Delhi and was designated as a dedicated Covid-19 treatment facility in mid-June during the first surge in cases in Delhi. The hospital has 343 beds and around 250 resident doctors and 350 nursing staff that cater to patients .
The resident doctors of the hospital have been observing on a partial ‘pen-down’ strike for three hours daily since September 20 in order to draw attention to their plight.
Earlier in June, the Delhi high court had d irected the North Delhi Municipal Corporation to pay the salaries of resident doctors (both juniors and seniors) in six hospitals of the civic body after taking note of newspaper reports about the doctors not having received their salaries since March.
In Friday’s letter — addressed to the hospital’s medical superintendent — the resident doctors’ association equated non-payment of wage dues to “penal servitude” and “psychologically and physically distressing”.
“Why should doctors and nurses, who are at the forefront of Covid-19 fight, have to go on a strike to ensure that their basic right of getting paid every month is protected. It cannot just be cause the MCD does not have any funds. The corporation generates hundred of crores in taxes every month; do you know how much they need to pay the doctors and nurses in all hospitals and dispensaries run by the north corporation? Just 13 crores,” said Dr Abhinav Sardana, president of the Hindu Rao resident doctors’ association.
Although, Friday’s letter states that the doctors would go on a strike from Saturday onwards, the administration has requested them to wait till Sunday at least.
“I received the letter of intimation on Friday at 9am and that gives us 48 hours, so the strike will be Sunday onwards. The issue is purely a matter for the headquarters to solve. You have to ask them what is being done,” said Dr Anu Kapoor, medical superintendent Hindu Rao hospital, when asked about the strike threat.
The doctors said that they have been facing problems in even buying basic essentials like food items, paying rent, and have trouble getting or paying their EMIs for loans. “I know a person whose husband has been out of job since the lockdown started. She now doesn’t even have enough money to feed her children. Some others have even kicked out of their rented accommodations for defaulting on rent. It is anyway difficult for a doctor working in a Covid-19 hospital to get an accommodation. Even the banks have started refusing loans to us because they ask for payslips of the last few months, and we do not have that,” said Dr Sardana.
Sardana added that at present the doctors did not have enough to pay for medicines if they contracted the virus. “If I get sick tomorrow, I will not even have enough to pay for the medicines. The government does not provide us any health cover. And, the schemes by the chief minister and the Prime Minister give compensation only after a healthcare worker has died from Covid-19,” said Dr Sardana.
The consultants of the hospital, and others run by the corporation, claimed that they too had not been paid since June. “The last time doctors from Kasturba Hospital went on strike for 15 to 20 days, we were paid a month’s salary for June. We have not been paid since then. But the consultants will not be joining the strike for now,” said Dr Maruti Sinha, secretary of the MCD doctors’ association.
“The Supreme Court had taken suo moto congnizance of the matter and the health ministry had said non-payment of salary is an offence under the IPC. But we still do not know who will enforce these directives and against whom action would be taken,” she said.
North corporation mayor Jai Prakash said that he visited the hospital and met the doctors. “I had a discussion with the doctors and have assured them to find a solution at the earliest. I requested them to withdraw the strike, as it is a Covid-dedicated hospital and may have an adverse impact. We will be meeting again tomorrow on the issue.”
AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said it was shameful that the BJP is not paying the salaries of doctors “The BJP-ruled MCDs are corrupt and incompetent. In the past five years, the AAP government’s revenue has doubled but in MCDs, only the incomes of councillors have increased,” he said.
The BJP hit back, with Praveen Shankar Kapoor, spokesperson, Delhi BJP saying that it is the Arvind Kejriwal government’s denial of constitutional funds to municipal bodies which is responsible for this situation.
“As for Bhardwaj saying municipal bodies in other states are doing better, yes that is true. Situation isn’t bad in other cities because there the state government gives constitutional funds to them,” Kapoor said.
