NEW DELHI: While frontline workers struggle to cope up with the coronavirus pandemic in the national capital, with more and more of them contracting the virus, doctors from three Municipal Corporations are faced with yet another challenge – non-payment of salary for the past three months.
“There are roughly 1,000 doctors working under different MCD-run hospitals. Salary from the month of February is pending for the doctors. The nurses and staff have received their paychecks, doctors haven’t received any money. We too have families to support and many of us are the sole earning member... how will we sustain ourselves?” said Dr RR Gautam, president, MCD Doctor’s Association.
The issue with timely payment of salary is one that has plagued MCD doctors for a long time. Last year, doctors from Hindu Rao Hospital under the North MCD had gone on strike over the issue of pending salaries.
“This is not a new concern; this is one we’ve been dealing with for some time now. MCD doctors are UPSC cadre and expect timely payment. We went on strike earlier regarding but this time we won’t take such actions because of the current situation. We are the frontline workers and don’t want to create any further problems in these troubling times,” Gautam mentioned.
MCD mayors last month had demanded CM Kejriwal to release due funds and even wrote over the pending salary of doctors, nurses and paramedical staff. The MCD doctor’s association has written a letter to PM Modi apprising him on the pending salary issue. “It seems that the government is not concerned about us, especially now that we are under so much pressure. We are at an increased risk of getting infected and yet we don’t get paid for our efforts. The matter has been raised to the commissioners, one of whom said that the matter has been appraised. But the commissioner didn’t communicate with us, she probably tweeted about it, but that’s not how one communicates official matters,” Dr Gautam said.