As many as 450 medical officers, who had joined the Delhi Government in 2014 and had not been promoted till now and they would be forced to go on a pen down strike if the authorities did not take action, the Delhi Medical Officers Welfare Association said on Tuesday.
As per rules, these doctors are eligible for promotion after four years in service.
“During the pandemic, we medical officers, who are junior doctors, were the backbone of the healthcare system. But now the authorities are not even giving us our basic right,” Dr. Jyoti Prakash, vice-president of the association, told The Hindu.
The Delhi Government says it will recommend names of doctors for the Padma awards, he said. “We are not even asking for big things like it. We are asking for our promotion, which is not anything extra. It is very demotivating to work like this,” Dr. Prakash said
The association has written several letters to the authorities since 2018 and met officials and Health Minister Satyendar Jain, but in vain. “If nothing works out then we will be forced to resort to a pen down strike,” the vice president said.
When contacted, a Delhi Government spokesperson refused to comment.
Leaving job
“Around 550 doctors had joined in 2014 and were appointed in hospitals, dispensaries, and the administration. Close to 100 of them have left and many more are planning to leave due to current issues,” Dr. Prakash said.
“I am from a lower middle-class family in Odisha and I am still staying in a rented accommodation in Delhi. Most of the doctors belong to middle-class families,” he added.
Many of these doctors were at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19.
Dr. Devinder Yadav, 35, who is also from the 2014 batch, was the COVID-19 in-charge at the Central Jail Hospital in Tihar during the second wave.
“The work was very hectic and I used to get calls from junior resident doctors even at 3 a.m. when there is an emergency. I was also worried a lot for my aged parents who stay with me. I live in a joint family and there were children as young as five years old,” Dr. Yadav said.
He said despite this, the Delhi Government is not doing anything for them.
“Our college batchmates, who are with the Central health services and the corporations, have been promoted. Seeing this affects our morale and many are switching to private hospitals,” Dr. Yadav said.
Dr. Prakash said he was the nodal officer of a quarantine centre in March last year.
“My son was only two-and-a-half-year old at that time and for the first one month, I didn’t even come home. For the next two months, I used to come home, but stayed in a different room and never went near my son. I was scared that I might infect him,” Dr. Prakash said.
It is demotivating that after putting in so much work the government is not giving them what is due, he said. “Many doctors from our batch have left the job. The Government is losing a lot of talent as it is not even giving basic things. I am also thinking to leave this job,” Dr. Prakash said.
