The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Monday demanded that the North Delhi Municipal Corporation immediately pay the pending salaries of doctors of Hindu Rao Hospital. It termed the non-payment of salaries, for the last three months, an “unfortunate situation” and a “new low in governance”.
Senior doctors of NDMC-run hospitals went on a day-long casual leave en masse on Monday as the crisis over pending salaries of medics of civic-run facilities deepened with no resolution in sight.
In a statement titled ‘Banana Republic’, the IMA said healthcare workers, especially doctors, are a national asset and their “humiliation by denying” legitimate salaries was nothing but “state-sponsored violence”.
“The IMA takes serious exception to the unfortunate situation in Hindu Rao Hospital which is under the management of Delhi Municipal Corporation. It sends a wrong message to the profession and the nation.
“It demoralises the entire doctor community. If their services are so dispensable during a pandemic, something is certainly rotten in the way we are governed. It is a new low in governance,” the statement said.
The IMA further said that the Supreme Court had specifically directed that salaries of doctors and healthcare workers should be paid in time. “It seems the writ of the highest court of the land does not bind these officials who administer these hospitals.”
“The IMA and the medical profession trust that there is adequate reason for the court to initiate suo motu contempt proceedings against the administration of Hindu Rao Hospital. Only such a strong response could restore faith in our institutions. The IMA demands that the authorities should pay the salaries of the doctors along with the dues immediately,” it said.
Five resident doctors of Hindu Rao Hospital have been sitting on a hunger strike since Friday, according to PTI. The Resident Doctors Association (RDA) said that the step was taken because no one is resolving the issue.
Resident doctors of the hospital on Sunday demonstrated at Connaught Place against non-payment of salaries.
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party has claimed that the BJP was resorting to “hooliganism” to “suppress” the voices of doctors and nurses protesting over the non-payment of salaries and transferred four CMOs of Hindu Rao Hospital as they were supporting the protest.
Four chief medical officers of Hindu Rao Hospital, which is run by the BJP-ruled North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), were transferred the Rajan Babu Institute of Pulmonary Medicine and Tuberculosis (RBIPMT) on Saturday, according to PTI.
(With PTI inputs)