Resident doctors go on strike in Delhi, patient dies

New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) Nearly 25,000 resident doctors of the central and Delhi government hospitals went on a one-day strike on Thursday to protest against de-merger of NPA from their basic salaries.

In the alleged absence of timely treatment following the strike, a septuagenarian woman patient died at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJPN) hospital.

Resident doctors across Delhi are demanding merger of the non-practicing allowance (NPA) with their basic salary, as against the seventh pay commission recommendations.

The doctors from Safdarjung, LNJPN, Ram Manohar Lohia and other Delhi government hospitals gathered at Lady Hardinge hospital and took out a protest march up to Jantar Mantar.

"We called for the one-day token strike to pressurise authorities to consider our demand for the merger of the NPA with our basic salary. Earlier, the NPA was merged with basic salary. But after the seventh pay commission recommendations, it has been separated from basic salary," Pankaj Solanki, president of the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA), told IANS.

"I have written to authorities concerned on this issue but to no avail. Today, except for All India Institute of Medical Sciences, resident doctors of all government hospitals in Delhi are on strike," he said adding that "emergency and OPD services are being handled by senior faculty at these hospitals".

Sapra Begum (70), who was suffering from arthritis and respiratory problems, was brought to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan hospital's emergency around 11 a.m., but died around 12.30 p.m. in the alleged absence of timely treatment.

"My mother's condition was very bad. We took her to the LNJPN emergency this (Thursday) morning. At the hospital, we were told there were no doctors because of the strike and that she should be taken to AIIMS,” said her son Shabbir of Laxmi Nagar area in East Delhi.

"After waiting at the LNJP for about two hours, they gave her an injection, following which she started vomiting and died within 15 minutes," he added.