‘No Pay, No Work’: Resident Doctors Of Kasturba Hospital Threatens Mass Resignation, Sets Deadline Of June 16

Resident doctors of the Kasturba Hospital have threatened to resign en mass as they are working without payment for the last three months. The Resident Doctors’ Association has sent a prior notice to concerned authorities that they should be paid the pending salary as soon as possible otherwise they will follow the ‘No Pay-No Work’ policy.

“All the residents are working in this Pandemic COVID-19 situation continously putting their and their families’ life in danger. We are not being paid salaries, making us unable to pay our house rent, huge travelling expenses and to buy essential commodities,” the RDA said in a letter to the hospital’s Additional Medical Superintendent.

450-bedded Kasturba Hospital is run by New Delhi Municipal Council’s (NDMC). According to the resident doctors, they have not been getting a salary since March.

“We cannot work without money. Being the front-line workers, we should be paid the pending salary as soon as possible and should be ensured a regular salary payout,” the letter reads.

RDA President Dr Sunil Kumar said that resident doctors will be forced to go for mass resignation if they are not paid their salary by June 16.

Meanwhile, Chairperson of the standing committee of the North DMC, Jai Prakash, said efforts are on to dissuade doctors. He asserted that efforts are being made to arrange salaries and any step like mass resignation at the time of pandemic would not be right.

The municipal corporation has not been able to generate funds as several activities such as parking charges, property tax collection had been hit by the coronavirus induced lockdown.

The development comes days after resident doctors of the NDMC-run Hindu Rao Hospital wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention in getting their salary released.

These are worrying trends as Delhi is already facing a shortage of beds and several patients have a complaint that they don’t have any access to even basic health facilities.