New Delhi, Dec 30 (IANS): Doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Tuesday staged a silent protest on the campus over delay in construction of hostels, which is compelling them to stay in rented accommodation.

According to the hospital authorities, the construction of three new hostels for the resident doctors was to be completed by Dec 2013 but was delayed.

"Not just once, the construction of the hostels have constantly been delayed. We are just given new dates and told that the construction of the hostels will be complete by then, however things do not move," Shashank Pooniya, secretary, Residents Doctors Association of AIIMS told IANS.

He said that the hospital authorities had set May 2014 for the completion of construction of the hostels but the work was far away from completion till now.

During the silent protest, over 1,500 junior and senior residents working with the AIIMS wore black ribbon and a small delegation of them met the hospital director MC Misra and urged to fasten up to the construction of the new hostels. The protest, however, did not affect the the medical services.

"Its not just about a few but over 1,000 resident doctors like us have to pay the hefty rent around for accommodations. Paying such huge amounts as rent specially after working for 12-14 hours and some times even more at a stretch is not n small problem," a senior resident doctor, who is also part of the silent protest told IANS.

The doctors also threatened to stage a big protest soon if the hospital authorities do not get the construction work completed within a few months.