Unpaid salaries: Kasturba Hosp nurses' strike hurdle for Covid vaccination drive
New Delhi: The nurses from North Delhi Municipal Corporation-run Kasturba Hospital have decided to go on an indefinite strike from January 16 — the day the country's Covid-19 vaccination programme is set to begin — starting with healthcare workers — over the non-payment of three months' salary.
The nurses at the hospitals are demanding the release of salaries for the months of October, November and December. "With a heavy heart we are going to inform you that if our three-month salary is not disbursed till January 15, then we will go for indefinite strike w.e.f January 16," the letter by the nurses union to the medical superintendent of the hospital said.
A notice for the indefinite strike has also been given by the confederation of MCD employees union on January 21 to higher authorities of MCD. "The whole responsibility will be on the MCD administration for this inconvenience," the letter further said.
Nurses from Hindu Rao and Rajan Babu Hospitals are already on an indefinite strike over non-payment of salary. A plea has also been moved in the Delhi High Court by
the nursing staff of Rajan Babu Institute of Pulmonary Medicine and Tuberculosis claiming they have not been paid their monthly salaries since October last year.
The petition by the Delhi Nurses Union has said that it had earlier also moved a plea for release of salaries from June last year onwards and in that matter the high court had on November 11, 2020 directed that salaries of nursing staff be paid till September 2020.
However, they were constrained to move the court again as their salaries from October 2020 onwards have not been paid to date, the petition has said. It has further claimed that the nursing staff of the hospital have been "working vigorously in the detection of the coronavirus disease by conducting home visits, virtual community meetings, contact tracing, organising COVID-19 tests, comorbidity evaluation, ensuring regular medication, defaulter patients visits, record maintenance, etc". The matter is listed in court for January 15.
Speaking to Millennium Post, North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash said, "During the COVID-19 pandemic, all employees of North MCD have carried out their duties diligently, whether they be our safai karamcharis, nurses or doctors. Now we are at the last stage of our fight against COVID-19 with a mass vaccination drive soon to be underway across the country. In such a situation, I could only request them (nurses of Kasturba Gandhi hospital) to participate with full force and not to go
on strike so that the credibility that has been earned with hard work over such a long
period is not marred by one incident."
When asked about why their salaries were pending, he said, "The salary of nurses from Kasturba Gandhi hospital, like other nurses employed by North MCD, has been pending for the last 2-3 months (for October, November and December). We are already going to issue one month's salary by January 20 and the rest will also follow soon. Salary is a separate issue and vaccination against COVID-19 is a separate issue."
