With no pay for months, MCD hospital resident doctors go on pen-down strike

The resident doctors’ association of Hindu Rao Hospital, run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), has again gone on a pen-down strike from Friday as their pending salary since October last year has not yet been disbursed.

Earlier, they had revoked the strike following an assurance that their salaries would be restored. But the promise was not kept.

According to a senior doctor with the institute, the medicos are also conducting a general body meeting on Saturday to discuss their further course of action.

“Today we might make some important decisions. Our pen down strike is still on,” said the doctor.

He added that the medical superintendent has said that the hospital authorities are helpless as the MCD commissioner is supposed to disburse the salary.

The resident doctors’ association at Hindu Rao Hospital had written a letter earlier as well and had threatened to go on the peaceful mode of pen-down strike stating that they were finding it hard to pay the house rent, monthly loan instalments and mortgages due to non-payment of salaries.

“Like any other human, we also feel humiliation in asking our retired parents and friends for money, despite already working in a reputed teaching hospital which is supposed to pay for the hard work we do here, day in and day out. Many of us are sole income earners in our families with many dependents,” the letter said.

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, the 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 said.

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