More doctors to join Hindu Rao protests

New Delhi: Unpaid for four months, the resident doctors’ association (RDA) of the north corporation-run Hindu Rao Hospital continued their protest even on Dussehra and burned an effigy of “vetan chor (salary thief) Ravana” on the premises.

Senior doctors are expected to go on mass casual leave on Monday to express solidarity with the association, which also protested at Connaught Place in the evening.

Some senior doctors said paramedic staffers, nurses and senior doctors were likely to join the strike in a couple of days. Such a strike will affect the services at five big hospitals — Hindu Rao, Girdhari Lal, Kasturba, Rajan Babu and MVID — along with dispensaries and maternity centres where more than 10,000 patients come daily for treatment.

Mayor Jai Prakash met protesting doctors at the dharna site. “I sat with them and discussed their issues. We are trying to arrange salaries by creating pressure on Delhi government and a solution will be found soon. We have also approached Delhi Medical Association,” he said.

In the evening, over 20 doctors wearing stethoscopes and white coats, and holding posters could be seen standing at isolated spots at CP. Dr Abhimanyu Sardana, RDA president, said no resolution could be found in the meeting with the mayor and protests would continue.

“We are not going back to work till our legitimate dues are paid. Doctors are facing a severe financial crisis and they cannot even pay their loans, rent and EMIs. It has become difficult to sustain our daily lives,” he added.

A senior doctor said that at a time when others were being paid bonuses and other reimbursements for working during the pandemic, they hadn’t even got basic salaries for four months.

“For the past 21 days, doctors have been protesting but no one is willing to pay us our salaries. Now our patience is exhausting,” a head of the department at Hindu Rao Hospital said.