SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Nov 9: A delegation of Shahid Nirmal Mahto Medical College Hospital (SNMMCH) Dhanbad will meet Jharkhand Health Minister Banna Gupta and Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Health Arun Kumar Singh at Ranchi tomorrow (November 10) over their pending honorarium payment.
Dr Abhishek Kumar, the spokesperson of agitating senior residents said that they have decided to meet the health minister and ACS to make them aware of the plight of beleaguered senior residents due to non-payment of pending honorarium for three months.
Senior residents of SNMMCH have been boycotting the OPD and Indoor services of the Hospital since November 2 in protest against non-payment of honorarium. They were also scheduled to boycott the emergency service from today (November 9) but deferred it for two days (till November 11) after getting unofficial information that their honorarium would be paid in two days.
“Though officially no authority of the hospital has informed us, we have received the information from unofficial sources that said allotment is likely to come on November 11. So, we decided to defer the emergency service boycott for two more days in the interest of patients as well as the hospital. Since we have waited for two months, we decided to wait two more days before initiating any drastic step,“ said Dr Abhishek.
He further added that the senior residents have come here (the hospital) for the service of patients and not for strike or agitation. But they have to resort to such steps with a heavy heart in situations like these.
Notably, no senior authority of SNMMCH has approached to reconsider their ongoing agitation in the interest of patients so far.
The OPD and Indoor boycott agitation has got shot in the arms as senior residents of other medical colleges of the state including Rajendra Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) Ranchi has also expressed solidarity with them. Junior Doctors Association (JDA) RIMS Ranchi president Dr Vikash Kumar has also jumped in support of their stir.
