Resident doctors from Sion Hospital on Tuesday sold fruit outside the hospital gates to protest the irregularity in payment of their stipends. The doctors had set up fruit stalls outside gates 1, 4 and 7 of the hospital.
“We want the government to realise that if it does not pay us on time, we will have to resort to washing cars and selling fruits to earn money. At the end of the day, we have to make ends meet,” Deepak Nimbhorkar, a resident doctor from Sion Hospital, said.
Dr. Harshal Mahajan, president of the Sion branch of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), said, “The irregularity has been persistent for the last six to seven months. Every time we raise our concerns, they release the stipend, just for a month. We should not have to ask again and again for what is rightfully ours.”
While doctors from the State-run JJ and KEM hospitals are planning on joining the protest, around 696 resident doctors from Nair Hospital will protest on Wednesday. “We plan to report to work with black ribbons tied on our arms. It is important for the State’s apathy to be visible to the general public,” Vishal Rakh, a resident doctor from Nair Hospital, said.
Meanwhile, members of Central MARD, an association of 4,500 resident doctors in Maharashtra, will on Thursday meet Girish Mahajan, Minister for Medical Education and Water Resources. “When we threatened to go on strike last week, a meeting was fixed with the minister. We are hoping that the meeting takes the issue is in a positive direction. Otherwise, we will not be left with any option other than agitating and staging a rasta roko,” Dr. Lokeshkumar Chirwatkar, president of Central MARD, told The Hindu.
Doctors across the State have been protesting the delay in stipends. Doctors in Nagpur, Nanded, Aurangabad, Latur and Ambajogai have not received their stipends for October and November. Earlier on Monday, doctors from medical colleges in Nagpur and Aurangabad staged a silent protest by sporting black ribbons on their arms and selling fruits outside their campuses.