Protect doctors from Covid-19 as well as BJP’s callousness, says Rahul Gandhi
At least 1,372 doctors have died due to the infection, according to the Indian Medical Association.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that doctors need to be protected from the coronavirus infection as well as from the “callousness” of the Bharatiya Janata Party government. “Save the saviours,” Gandhi said in a tweet.
Many doctors working on the frontlines have died since January 2020. As many as 624 doctors have died during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the Indian Medical Association had said on Thursday. Last year, 748 doctors had succumbed to the infection during the first wave, according to the association.
However, the deaths among doctors could be higher as the association keeps records of only around 3.5 lakh of its members. There are more than 12 lakh doctors in India.
Doctors need protection from Coronavirus as well as BJP governments’ callousness.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 4, 2021
Save the saviours!
Frontline health workers have also had to put in long, strenuous shifts to handle the rush of patients, risking exposure to the infection. Many times the doctors are under-equipped and not properly protected from the infection.
A junior doctor in Delhi, interviewed by Scroll.in in May, had flagged several concerns such as sub-standard personal protective equipment kits and the lack of soaps, hand sanitisers and disposable cups to drink water from at a makeshift Covid-care facility.
The doctor had informed the authorities about the shortcomings in safety precautions for health workers. She claimed her grievances were not addressed, and tendered her resignation.
Also read: ‘Not worth the risk’: Why a junior doctor in Delhi quit her job at a makeshift Covid-19 facility
Apart from this, there have also been several incidents of assault on frontline workers in India. In one such case on Tuesday, a mob attacked a doctor at a Covid-19 care centre in Assam after a patient died during treatment.
The doctor, identified as Dr Seuj Kumar Senapati, was posted in Assam’s Hojai district. A video circulating on social media showed the doctor being beaten up with a metal object. He was hospitalised and is reportedly stable now.
In another instance that took place last week, a mob had allegedly beaten up a doctor in Karnataka’s Chikkamagaluru district after a six-year-old patient died, reported the Hindustan Times. Both Assam and Karnataka are ruled by the BJP.
Meanwhile, India on Friday morning reported 1,32,364 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, while deaths rose by 2,713. The country’s tally of infections now stands at 2,85,74,350 since the outbreak in January 2020, while the toll has reached 3,40,702, health ministry data showed.