Unpaid salaries: Doctors at Delhi’s Hindu Rao, Rajan Babu hospitals to go on pen-down strike from Monday

Further, they pointed out that due to low bank balance, some of them were not only losing out on interest, but were also fined for negative balance. Besides the delayed salary, anxiety over job insecurity was also taking a toll because many are on 44-day contracts. “We live in constant fear of losing our job every 45th day. Contract/ad hoc culture is intentionally designed to deprive workers of benefits and perks that come with regular/permanent employment,” the letter added.

Resident doctors at Kasturba Hospital had written to the medical superintendent on February 1 stating that if their salary was not disbursed in two days, they would go on a strike from Saturday. The doctors said they have not been paid salaries since November last year.

Meanwhile, the letter written by doctors at Hindu Rao Hospital and Rajan Babu Institute of Pulmonary Medicine and Tuberculosis also complained about the lack of potable water at the MCD-run hospitals, especially for those who cannot leave their duty stations and go out to buy a bottle of water.

“Lack of access to hygienic drinking water in the workplace adversely affects the working condition. Rat, mosquito, ticks and mould-infested DDRs also contribute to this problem. The hygiene problem is not limited to the above but also to the toilets in the wards and DDRs. Both patients and doctors, who spend long hours in the hospital, suffer from this problem. The stray dog menace haunting the hospital and its premises for decades also needs to have a special mention,” the letter read. DDR refers to Duty Doctors’ Room where resident doctors stay and sleep during long shifts.

The doctors’ associations said that if their demands remained unheard, they would be forced to contemplate withdrawing from work entirely and handing over their duty stations to senior doctors and consultants at the hospital.