No salary – No Work: Doctors at Hindu Rao Hospital go on indefinite strike for not receiveing 3 months salary!
Doctors at Hindu Rao Hospital in North Delhi have gone on an indefinite strike over non-payment of salaries for the past 3 months!
Hindu Rao Hospital that caters to over 1,000 out patients daily is one of 6 hospitals run by the North Delhi corporation which is facing a deficit of Rs 300 crores. This latest crisis comes close behind an earlier strike in October by the sanitation staff over similarly delayed salaries.
Doctors started their protest on December 15, starting with half a day for the first three days. But, when their demands were not met they decided to make it a full day-strike. A similar situation occered last year too, when doctors were forced to go on strike for non-payment of salaries. The doctors have made it clear that they don’t want to disrupt medical services for the public but are helpless as they have families to feed too.
“No Salary but please come back to work!” says Corporation
Ravinder Gupta, mayor of the North Corporation has stated that shortage of funds is the reason salaries have not been disbursed to the doctors yet. He says doctors would have to wait atleast another 2 weeks before they can get their salaries.
In the mean time, the authorities have asked doctors to resume their work so that it doesn’t affect the health of patients. Salaries will be released on a priority basis, but some delay is to be expected.
Reason for lack of funds
The Corporation claims the Delhi Govt. has cut Rs. 40 crore from its health grant, which has hampered its functioning and caused lack of funds to pay salaries. The financial crunch has struck the corporation on all fronts, and the situation is expected to grip the other 5 hospitals very soon. The doctors association has stressed that they would continue their strike until the last 3 months salary dues were cleared.
The Delhi government and corporation must understand that doctors are human too and need to take care of basic needs such as – food and monthly expenses! How does the corporation expect the doctors to show up and take care of patients when they don’t have money to take care of their own families?
