Several patients said they faced delay in services and inconvenience but had no option except to wait.
“I came at 11 in the morning as my wife developed labour pain but there was no one to attend to us for an hour,” said Ramesh Chander, a rickshaw-puller from Tilak Chowk area who visited the hospital on Malka Ganj Road. “I saw several nurses and hospital staff sitting close to the main hospital entryway with banners and learnt that they are on a strike, so I decided to move my wife to another hospital,” he said.
Another patient, Vipin Jhangia, said, “I had fractured my leg badly in an accident early morning and came to Hindu Rao as it was the closest hospital nearby. Doctors were there but no nurses to even bandage and provide any first aid. Then I learnt they aren’t working today.”
Hindu Rao, run by the north municipal corporation, is one of the biggest hospitals in north Delhi which caters to over 2,000 patients daily.
Unions of nurses, paramedical staff and lower-division health employees here called for a “pen down strike” on Thursday after the hospital administration said they are still arranging for their salaries. The agitating employees have not received their dues since October.
Induwati Jamwal, a senior nurse, said, “We do not want patients to suffer, but this time we have decided ‘rashtra hit mein karenge kaam, kaam ke lenge pure daam’ (We will work in the interest of the nation, but will take full compensation for it). The municipal corporation cannot keep telling us every month that our salaries because they don’t have money. They will have to find a solution for this.”
A hospital administration official, who said she didn’t want to be quoted, said, “We are trying our best to get them their salaries and minimise any problems caused to patients.” A senior north body official only said, “We are yet to get a representation from the unions, so cannot comment on it.”
Notably, resident doctors of the hospital had also gone on strike in May last year causing over 50-60 surgeries to be held up before their salaries were cleared and work resumed.
Prasanta Patnaik