Delhi's MCD strike has meant that many like Hasrat Bibi cannot get urgent medical care.
Nine months pregnant Hasrat Bibi was due to deliver her baby on February 2. Overdue and tired, she has been waiting at Delhi's Hindu Rao hospital for hours, hoping that to see a doctor. But that hasn't happened yet.
More than one lakh municipal workers in Delhi have been on an indefinite strike since January 27 over pending salaries and arrears. The capital's 2,000 consulting doctors, 5,000 resident doctors and 13,000 nursing staff joined the strike on Monday,
bringing much of the city's health services to a standstill.
Hasrat, accompanied by her husband Shamsher Khan amd residents of Malka Ganj have visited the hospital twice this week but on both occasions say they have been turned away from the emergency ward citing the lack of doctors.
Experts say it is vital for women to at least see a doctor twice during the last two weeks of pregnancy, a chance the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) strike has robbed her off.
Hasrat Bibi said she waited at the hospital for over four hours.
"I'm in pain and in this condition I have to go from one hospital to the other looking for a doctor," Hasrat said.
Adding to her physical pain, is the family's dire financial situation. Her husband, an auto-rickshaw driver, has to borrow money to pay for the vehicle that he rents out and drives.
"I have to spend the entire day looking for a hospital where a doctor would see my wife so I cannot work but I still have to pay Rs 400 to the owner of the auto that I drive for a living," Shamsher said told NDTV.
A hospital official, though sympathetic, said, "We haven't been paid for the last three months. How will we run our families? We are forced to protest for our demands."