Doctors ask govt to take over hospitals

Seeking an “urgent bailout”, the MCD Doctors’ Association has written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urging both the State and Central governments to consider taking over the health services from the civic bodies as a “permanent solution”.

In a letter to Mr. Kejriwal, the association also asked for all the employees to be paid immediately.

The letter says that “in view of the financial situation of the MCDs, health services (except public health) may be taken away from the corporation and may be considered for being taken over by the Delhi or the Central government as a permanent solution to our problems.”

“Repeated representations have been sent to the Lt Governor and MCD authorities, but as of date there has been total apathy and neither of them has shown any interest in resolving our issues and they do not appear to have any clue or will to solve this recurring problem,” the letter says.

Responding to the appeal, Mr. Kejriwal said that he would consider the proposal from the doctors.

Patient care, meanwhile, continued to suffer as doctors and nurses participated in the now week-long strike of municipal corporation employees over non-payment of salaries, forcing medical establishments to run only emergency services.

Approximately 5,000 resident doctors, 2,000 consultants, 13,200 nurses and other paramedical staff of MCD hospitals have been on strike since Monday. As a result, government hospitals in the city have been overburdened. Doctors have complained of an acute shortage of essential drugs since the past one year.

All MCD-run hospitals — Girdhari Lal Maternity Hospital at Ajmeri Gate, Kasturba Hospital at Daryaganj, Swami Dayanand Hospital at Dilshad Garden, Hindurao Hospital at Malka Ganj, Balak Ram Hospital at Timaruur, Rajan Babu Institute of Pulmonary Medicine & Tuberculosis at Mukherjee Nagar and Maharishi Valmiki Infectious Diseases Hospital at Pooth Khurd — and over 184 dispensaries run by the city’s civic bodies have closed down services after the strike.

“We have not got salaries since three months. We never got salary on time in the past one and a half year. It has become difficult for us to survive. We are asking to be paid for the services we have provided. The worst-affected are doctors who have come to the city from outside. We too have small children and EMIs to pay,” said Dr. R.R. Gautam, president of the Municipal Corporation Doctors’ Association.