NEW DELHI: The resident doctors of Bara Hindu Rao Hospital “suspended” their pen-down strike on Monday after the hospital administration agreed to fulfil a few of their demands, including the disbursal of a part of their pending salaries, with a caution that they may resume the strike if all the demands are not met soon.
The doctors said that their wages, which had been accounted for until December 15, have been deposited into their bank accounts, while authorities assured them that they would resolve other issues related to the hospital’s lack of drinking water and sanitation.
In the minutes of meetings issued by the hospital’s Resident Doctors Association (RDA), the administration said that issues like drinking water, cleaning of toilets among others will be resolved at the earliest. “Our prime concern was the delay in salary. The wages until December 15 have been received.
However, we are yet to get the salary till January 15. Assurances have been given to resolve other issues, so that’s why we have decided to suspend the strike,” said Dr Siddharth Tara, president, Hindu Rao’s RDA.
A coordination committee will be set up, and a nodal officer will be appointed to oversee the work in consultation with the RDA. The doctor’s body said a nodal officer and a representative from the RDA will work in tandem.
“It has not been called off. We will wait and watch for the next 10 days for the redressal of all our issues. We will be forced to strike again if all issues are not resolved,” he said. Dr. Ramakant Yadav, RDA president of Kasturba Gandhi Hospital, also stated that resident doctors’ salaries have been credited up until December.
The months-long delay in salaries, which has been an old issue of civic-run hospitals, had forced the resident doctors from select health centres like Hindu Rao, Kasturba Gandhi, Rajan Babu TB Hospital, and Swami Dayanand to announce a pen-down strike.