Several doctors, nurses and other medical personnel at the Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) Hospital in VV Puram, Bengaluru have gone on strike and shut down the outpatient department (OPD) after not having received their salaries for the past month, in spite of complaining to the administration about the same.
“For the past one month we have not been given our salary. We have complained repeatedly regarding this, but there has yet to be any action taken. In addition to this, none of us have received any increment in our salary for the past 4 to 5 years,” said one of the KIMS employees to TNM, “Our families are dependent on the money we take home, it becomes extremely difficult.”
Medical staff members, who are taking part in the protest include doctors, nurses, ward attenders amongst others.
One nursing staff member told TNM, “We work long and strenuous hours, our shifts are hectic, but even that is not what we are complaining about. Our salary has not been credited in a month, and we have not been getting any increments, though we have been working here for years now.”
She further added that though the outpatient departments were not functional, casualty would continue to be open for emergencies.
“The outpatient department will not function today as we are all on strike, however, patients requiring urgent care will be tended to in our emergency department which will remain functional,” she said.
Another source alleged that in order to avoid increasing salaries for senior employees, the hospital authorities resorted to recruiting new workers.
This is not the first time such an incident was reported to have occurred at KIMS. In 2015, over 200 medicos protested after not having received their stipends for 15 months in a row.