AIIMS resident docs to go hungry, but will continue work

About 2,000 resident doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will go hungry from Friday in protest against the "improper implementation" of the 7th central pay commission's (CPC) recommendations.

They, however, will continue to work. The resident doctors also held a protest on Wednesday and sought the prime minister's intervention. "We have remained silent for a long time, hoping for a response from the health ministry. Being responsible citizens and doctors, we will not hamper the facilities for patients. In our further action to put our demands forward we will work continuously without consuming food," former AIIMS Resident Doctors Association (RDA) president Dr Vijay Kumar said.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the AIIMS RDA said even one and half years after the implementation of the 7th CPC recommendations and four months of allowance approval in other medical institutes, the AIIMS doctors here still didn't get the revised pay because of administrative lapses.

AIIMS RDA president Harjit Singh Bhatti said in the letter that when they approached the hospital administration, it said the ministry was not giving approval and when they visited the ministry they were told that it would take a long time.

The resident doctors threatened to go on a strike next month if their demands were not met.