Resident doctors of Delhi civic body hospitals protest at Jantar Mantar over salary dues

Sporting black armbands and shouting slogans, several resident doctors of a few hospitals run by the North Delhi civic body currently agitating over their pending salaries, held a joint protest at Jantar Mantar here on Thursday to press their demands.

Sporting black armbands and shouting slogans, several resident doctors of a few hospitals run by the North Delhi civic body currently agitating over their pending salaries, held a joint protest at Jantar Mantar here on Thursday to press their demands. Wearing masks, doctors from Hindu Rao Hospital, Kasturba Hospital and Rajen Babu Tuberculosis Hospital held placards with appeals to higher authorities to intervene and resolve the crisis.

Recently, several resident doctors of the three facilities coming under North Delhi Municipal Corporation had held a protest at Jantar Mantar followed by a candlelight march. "We are tired of raising this issue, but there is still no resolution in sight. We should be in hospitals now, but we have no option but to press for our demands. We want our due salaries, it is our basic right," said Abhimanyu Sardana, president of RDA of Hindu Rao Hospital.

He also said, "Our residents have not been attending to patients". There are no admitted patients right now in the wards. Even the emergency ward patients are being told that there is an ongoing strike, the RDA president said. Another member of the RDA of the 900-bed hospital in north Delhi said, about 500 resident doctors from the three hospitals are agitating with nearly half of them from the Hindu Rao Hospital.

The members of the Resident Doctors' Association of the Hindu Rao Hospital have been protesting for the past several days and had gone on an indefinite strike, seeking release of salaries due for the past three months. Resident doctors of the Kasturba Hospital are also agitating over their pending salaries too.

Jyotsana Prakash, a resident doctor at Hindu Rao Hospital, who joined the protest, said, "Some of us might even sit on hunger strike from today. Final decision is yet to be made by the association". North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash recently had said that salary has been released for resident doctors for the "month of July".

The BJP, which controls the NDMC and ruling AAP have sought to blame each other for the situation. Sardana said the Jantar Mantar protests are seen from a political angle by authorities, but "we just want our voices to be heard".

"Today, a delegation from Delhi Medical Association led by its president Dr B B Wadhwa met the Medical Superintendent," he added. "They talked about issues regarding pending salaries, the residents whose tenures are due to end but are not being renewed. Why our residents are being pressurised instead to withdraw from the protest when we have been protesting due to the fault of the administration itself," Sardana claimed.

The RDA of Hindu Rao Hospital had on Wednesday written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking resolution of the crisis over the pending salaries of medical staff of the corporation facilities.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)