Hindu Rao docs firm on strike, write to President: Want to kill ourselves

On Monday, the body wrote to the President of India, asking that they be permitted to commit suicide since they are not being able to provide for their families. Over 400 doctors, including senior and junior resident doctors and interns, joined the strike, affecting major services. Around 200 medical officers who did not participate in the the strike attended to patients.

Like Yadav, Arjun (22), had come all the way from Bahraich in UP to seek treatment for a dislocated bone. He claimed doctors attended to him, but didn’t tell him when his X-Ray would be done.

Vice-president of the RDA, Piyush Singh, said, “We don’t want to trouble patients. But what can we do if we don’t receive our salaries?” Singh added that the doctors will go around carrying bowls and ask people for money on Tuesday. General secretary of the RDA, Sanjeev Choudhary, said the association is in talks with doctors of other MCD hospitals and they are likely to join the agitation soon.

As per North MCD sources, the salary status of doctors in four other hospitals run by the corporation — Maharishi Valmiki Infectious Diseases, Kasturba Gandhi, Girdhari Lal and Rajan Babu Institute of Pulmonary Medicine & Tuberculosis — is the same. Doctors of these hospitals claimed they did not join the strike as they are few in number.

North MCD commissioner Varsha Joshi Monday evening said money for salaries had been sent to the hospital’s account and salaries will be probably be disbursed by Tuesday. Singh, however, said they will call off the strike only after they see the money in their accounts.
Senior doctors, meanwhile, tried to contain the situation on Monday. “We performed over 300 ultrasounds by afternoon. Patients usually claim that they are not getting facilities so that they can be attended to soon. Every government hospital has a large footfall.”

North civic body officials said they are reeling under a financial crisis. The corporation earns around Rs 1,000 crore annually through property tax, toll tax, advertising and parking, through which it meets just 30% of its expenses. This makes the corporation heavily dependent on the Delhi government’s funds, that it receives under the recommendation of the finance commission.

The corporation’s monthly salary budget is around Rs 350 crore, out of which around Rs 130 crore is for group B employees which include resident doctors. “This is the biggest chunk of salaried employers. Group C and D have been paid till last month as we cannot allow sanitation services to be hit,” a senior official said.