Around 2,000 resident doctors of the AIIMS, who stopped taking food today but continue to work protesting the "improper implementation" of the Seventh Central Pay Commission's recommendations, have found support from various unions of the institute.

Their protest has been joined by the Nurses Union, Officer's association, Society of Young Scientists, Students Union and Karamchari Union among others. The doctors who held a peaceful protest from 1 to 2 pm in front of the main gate also announced that they will not take food unless their demands are fulfilled.

"This will continue till we get approval for the release of our revised pay according to the seventh central pay commission's recommendations from the health ministry. The government should realise the risk of working without food in hospital settings," AIIMS RDA president Harjit Singh Bhatti said.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the AIIMS Resident Doctors Association (RDA) said even one and half years after the implementation of the commission's 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.

"We have remained silent for a long time, hoping for a response from the Health Ministry. But there has been a complete lack of constructive steps taken by the ministry. Being a responsible citizen and a doctor 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 RDA president Dr Vijay Kumar said.

Bhatti claimed 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. He said the resident doctors at the AIIMS were forced to work "tediously" for more than the "mandated 48 hours" in a week, but were not getting their rightful due because of bureaucratic hurdles.