NrDMC Mayor writes to CM for funds to pay HCWs

New Delhi: North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Jai Prakash has written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asking for immediate release of the first installment of a grant-in-aid, a sum of Rs 460.40 crore, so that North MCD can pay the pending salaries of doctors, nurses and sanitation staff, especially those working in COVID-19 designated hospitals such as Hindu Rao.

North MCD has designated Hindu Rao, the biggest hospital under its purview as a Covid facility and plans to do the same for RBI PMT (Rajan Babu Institute of Pulmonary Medicine and Treatment) as well. North MCD has written to AIIMS and is awaiting approval for the same but there are some obstacles, such as understaffing, that need to be resolved first. As a supplement, staff will be diverted to RBI PMT from Hindu Rao hospital where residents and senior doctors last received their salaries for the month of January, a doctor at the hospital said. Notably, Hindu Rao itself is stretched thin because the high volume of COVID-19 cases has led to fully occupied beds and claiming at least 40 per cent of the staff.

"North MCD is running two covid-hospitals, Hindu Rao hospital (200 beds of which 10 are ICU beds) and RBI PMT (60 beds). It is a matter of deep concern that we are not in a position to pay our doctors, nurses, paramedical staff or even sanitation workers, even though they have been carrying out their duties throughout the pandemic risking their own lives," Jai Prakash said. All of these workers have not received their salaries for February and March.

"We have requested the Delhi government to release grants in aid for the first quarter of the current financial year (2021-22). The city cannot afford to have health and sanitation workers with low morale at this juncture", he added.