NEW DELHI: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Monday demanded that the North Delhi Municipal Corporation immediately pays the doctors of Hindu Rao Hospital their pending wages while terming non-payment of salaries for the last three months an ‘unfortunate situation’ and a ‘new low in governance’.
Senior doctors of civic body-run hospitals went on a day-long casual leave en masse on Monday as the crisis over pending salaries deepened. In a statement on the issue titled ‘Banana Republic’, the IMA said healthcare workers, especially doctors, are a national asset and their ‘humiliation by denying’ legitimate salaries is 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.
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“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,” alleged the doctors’ body which represents around 3.5 lakh medicos across the country.
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 said in the statement.
“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.