Despite the center’s ordinance to protect healthcare workers from discrimination, two doctors in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad have been asked to vacate their rented homes, as per the report of the Indian Express.
The incident comes from the state that was been worst hit in the country. The incident also defies the government’s ordinance to protect the healthcare professionals fighting the COVID-19 battle. Following attacks on medical staffs over the weeks, the government had brought in an ordinance condemning such attacks and also said that such attacks will be a non-bailable offense and will carry imprisonment of six months to seven years.
In one of the cases of the doctor from Pimpri-Chinchwad, the landlord asked to vacate his apartment as the landlord expressed fears of contracting the coronavirus through the doctor. The Indian Medical fraternity and the Indian Council for Medical Research have been repeatedly dismissing the notion and have been vocal against such discrimination. The general secretary of the Indian Medical Association, Sudhir Bhalerao later said that the alternate accommodation for the doctor was arranged.
The medical association’s Maharashtra Unit Chief, Avinash Bhondve said that a similar incident happened in Pune where a doctor was asked to vacate from the residential society. Even though the police and divisional commissioner intervened, the society members relented.
Several other instances of Harassment reported
This isn’t a one-off incident. The attacks, discrimination, and harassment on healthcare workers have been rampant in the country as the stigma around COVID-19 has built up. In Ambala city of Haryana, the residents of a village reportedly clashed with police and even threw stones at doctors protesting against the cremation of the coronavirus suspect.
Down south, in Kerala, a residents’ association in Ernakulam district asked a government doctor who is at the forefront of the battle against COVID-19 to vacate his premises. In the national capital Delhi, a 42-year-old man was arrested for assaulting two female resident doctors at the Safdarjung Hospital over the accusation that they were spreading the coronavirus.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar addressed the media and expressed his disappointment with the attacks on health workers and said,
“No incident of violence or harassment against doctors and healthcare workers will be tolerated. An ordinance has been brought in, it will be implemented after the President’s sanction. In case of grave injury caused, the accused can get jail term from six months to seven years.”
Two days later, President Ramnath Kovind sanctioned the Epidemic Diseases Amendment Ordinance, 2020.
Source: Scroll.in
