Covid centre doctors allege dues not paid; Mumbai civic body denies

Private medical practitioners who have been appointed to treat patients at the civic-run jumbo Covid-19 centre in Goregaon have alleged that the Brihanmumbai Municipal

Private medical practitioners who have been appointed to treat patients at the civic-run jumbo Covid-19 centre in Goregaon have alleged that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has not paid them salaries since June. BMC has denied the claims.

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In April, BMC converted the Nesco Ground in Goregaon to a jumbo Covid-19 treatment centre, mostly for mildly symptomatic patients. The centre has 1,000 beds and over 200 intensive care unit (ICU) beds.

The civic body also hired hundreds of private medical practitioners to treat patients at the centre. Of these, 137 doctors say they have not received their salaries from BMC since June. Doctors with Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS) are paid ₹60,000 per month. Those with Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) are paid ₹80,000 and doctors with specialisations are paid ₹1 lakh and more per month.

“I was supposed to get ₹1 lakh as my salary. But now, BMC owes me over ₹3 lakh as I haven’t received my salary since joining in August. We are working six to eight hours every day at the centre but no one pays heed to us,” said an orthopaedic doctor. Another doctor who works at the centre also said he hadn’t received his salary and additionally, the long duty hours made it difficult to run his clinic. “Due to the duty hours, I run my clinic only for two hours. This has led to economic constraints for my family as I am not getting the promised salary from the corporation,” he said.

However, BMC has denied these allegations. Dr Neelam Andrade, in-charge of the Covid-19 centre at Nesco Ground, said, “We have given more than ₹3 crore as their [the doctors’] salary from the civic body’s budget. Moreover, till September, all payments have been cleared.”

Previously in July, a team of doctors and nurses from Kerala had complained that BMC kept postponing their payment dates and they returned to their home state without receiving salaries.

Doctors at the centre also complained about the accommodation provided by BMC as an alternative to returning home and exposing their families to the infection while on duty. “The bedsheets aren’t washed, bathrooms aren’t cleaned, and they just give dal and rice. If we complain, the hotels and lodges say the civic body hasn’t paid them,” said a doctor.