Resident doctors at the civic body run Hindu Rao Hospital in north Delhi have resorted to a three-hour daily “symbolic indefinite strike” in response to the non-payment of salaries for the last three months.
The group of doctors was joined by nurses of the hospital, who too have not been paid their salaries for several months.
Hindu Rao Hospital, the largest municipal hospital in Delhi with 900 beds, is currently a dedicated COVID-19 facility and many of its healthcare workers have contracted the virus since the pandemic began. Since it is a dedicated COVID-19 facility, medical services, according to the striking medical workers, will not be essentially affected. Doctors, who are not on rotational duty, will join the strike for the three hour duration, they said.
“We are on a symbolic indefinite strike to make our voices heard to authorities, who have not responded to our appeal so far. We have been doing the symbolic pen down from 9 a.m. to noon for the last several days as well as online protests, but no one listened to us,” said Abhimanyu Sardana, president of the Resident Doctors’ Association of the facility.
“We are humans too and have a family to run. We are risking our lives for humanity. Is it too much to ask for our due salaries,” Dr. Sardana asked.
North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash had recently said the civic body was doing “everything possible to resolve the issue”.