Dozens of doctors from Nepal working in India’s top hospital – AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Science) – have tweeted about not being paid by the government for a year.
This comes after the Resident Doctors Association (RDA) of AIIMS in New Delhi wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding 65 foreign doctors who are still waiting for their salaries, despite working long hours through the pandemic.
In 2018, Nepalese doctors working in India also went unpaid, which the RDA highlighted in the letter. Back then, PM Modi said the Indian government would look into the matter.
"All of these 65 foreign national Doctors in AIIMS New Delhi, over and above their regular clinical duties are also performing COVID duties since March 2020. They are performing such duties even by putting their own life at risk... They are not being paid a single penny towards a stipend, despite explicit and clear directions in ... July 2018. (sic)," the letter reads.
A total of 151 doctors from Nepal are currently training at AIIMS, PGI in Chandigarh city, and JIPMER in Puducherry.
Several foreign doctors working in different branches of AIIMS in other states of India have also taken to social media to complain about not being paid.
Scores of netizens have posted their support for the doctors on social media and have urged the government to pay up as soon as possible.