Non-payment of salary: Nurses of Hindu Rao, other Corporation-run hospitals go on indefinite strike

NEW DELHI: Hundreds of nurses at the Hindu Rao Hospital and a few other North Corporation-run facilities went on an indefinite strike on Monday over their "pending salaries" for August-October.

The strike led by Nurses Welfare Association (NWA) of the largest municipal hospital comes days after the resident and senior doctors of the facility called off their protest after the North Delhi Municipal Corporation released their due salaries till September.

The NWA on Saturday had shot a letter to North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash over non-payment of salaries from August-October and had said, it will "begin indefinite strike from November 2".

"We were left with no other option but to go on a strike. We have a family to run too. Does the NDMC think we will continue to work without salaries. We already did for three months without pay in interest of patients," said Indumati Jamwal, head of the NWA.

She said nurses of Kasturba Hospital, Rajen Babu Tuberculosis Hospital and Mrs Girdhari Lal Maternity Hospital have also joined the stir.

"About 650 nurses are on strike," she claimed.

"We hope this strike won't have to continue for long and our issues will be resolved," Jamwal said, adding that there is a meeting scheduled with North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash on Monday.

The members of the Resident Doctors' Association (RDA) of the 900-bed hospital had been recently protesting for several days and had gone on an indefinite strike, seeking release of salaries due for three months.

Seniors doctors under the banner of Municipal Corporation Doctors' Association (MCDA) later had also gone on an indefinite strike, and both associations had called off the stir on October 28.