As many as fourteen doctors, who were in charge of government-run hospitals in UP’s Unnao district, have stepped down from their posts, in protest against alleged harassment and ill-treatment by senior administration officials. Of the 14, four are superintendents of community health centres, while 10 are in charge of primary health centres. On Wednesday, 11 of the 14 doctors signed on a joint resignation letter and handed it over to the deputy chief medical officer, Unnao.
“We are forced to take this step because despite working round-the-clock since last year, we are regularly being harassed and also threatened to be sent to jail by administrative officials. They scold us by making a false allegation that we are not working responsibly,” Indian Express reported quoting district general secretary of the Provincial Medical Services’ Association, Dr Sanjeev Kumar.
Dr Sharad Vaishya, one of the signatories to the resignation letter, said the DM, other officials, even the SDM and the tehsildar are all supervising them and holding review meetings.
Their teams leave at noon, track and isolate Covid-19 positive patients, get their sampling done, distribute medicines and then later they get calls from SDM to attend review meetings, he added.
The mass resignations came a day after removal of two doctors, who were in charge of the Fatehpur Chaurasi and Asoha primary health centres. The district administration, however, rejected the allegations and claimed the officials were transeferred as per policy, according to Indian Express
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To resolve the issue, District Magistrate (DM) Ravindra Kumar will chair a meeting with all the 14 health centre officials in his office on Thursday.
Meanwhile, authorities found bodies buried in the sand near Ganga in Unnao district. The Unnao District Magistrate has said, “Our team has found buried bodies in an area far from river. A search is being conducted for more bodies in other areas. I have asked a team to carry out an inquiry. Action will be taken accordingly.”
