Health services will be disrupted at North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) run Hindu Rao hospital as resident doctors have decided to go on an indefinite strike over pending salaries from Monday after meeting with senior corporation official did not yielded any result. 

Around 450 resident doctors and interns are forced to go on strike from Monday as there is no word on payment of salaries due for past three months, said Rahul Chaudhary, president of Resident Doctors Welfare Association at the hospital.

“We have planned to set up a temporary OPD on the campus for patients but will not join our respective departments and other duties,” Chaudhary said.

The resident doctors will also stage a march and seek “alms” from patients as a symbolic protest against failure of the corporation authorities to pay their salaries, he said.

A senior NDMC official said salaries of the doctors were delayed due to “lack of funds” and arrangements were being made to solve the problem.

Since Thursday, the resident doctors of the hospital have abstained from duty for three hours every day, warning about an indefinite strike from Monday. Chaudhary said the strike is being held to protest delay in payment of salaries and the association is not against patients.

Following the ‘impasse’ in resolving the salary issue of the staff of north and east Delhi Municipal Corporations, a plea was also moved in the Delhi High Court on Friday seeking directions to both the municipal corporations to disburse the salaries of March and April to the primary teachers and doctors employed by them. The application by NGO Social Jurist contended that while the teachers have not been paid for these two months, in February they received meagre amounts like Rs 4 and Rs 8 as salary after deduction of tax.

The NGO, in its plea filed through advocate Ashok Agarwal, also said the residential doctors of Hindu Rao Hospital have gone on a pen-down strike since Thursday in protest against non-payment of March and April salaries.

The application, which is likely to be listed for hearing on May 21, was filed in the NGO’s main petition highlighting the non-payment of salaries of teachers employed by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and NMC.

Visited by thousands of patients’ every day, Hindu Rao is the largest hospital operated by NMC. A medical college was also opened by the civic body in 2013.

The BJP-ruled NDMC blames the Delhi government for its financial crisis. The NMC suffering financial stress, has been facing hardships in regular payment of salaries to its employees, including sanitation workers and those serving in other departments.