Doctors Withdraw Symbolic Protest Over Attacks After Amit Shah Assurance

Safety and dignity of our doctors at their work place is non-negotiable, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said as he urged the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to withdraw a symbolic protest by doctors against attacks on health workers who are in the frontline of the country's coronavirus battle. The doctors' body withdrew its protest after their meeting with the Home Minister and the Health Minister today.

Interacting with doctors and the medical association through video-conferencing, along with Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Amit Shah assured them that the government stands firmly behind the doctors for their safety and that it will do everything possible to protect them, sources in the Union Home Ministry said.

"Safety and dignity of our doctors at their work place is non-negotiable. It is our collective responsibility to ensure conducive atmosphere for them at all times. I have assured doctors that Modi govt is committed to their cause and appealed to reconsider their proposed protest," Amit Shah tweeted after the meeting.

Safety and dignity of our doctors at their work place is non-negotiable. It is our collective responsibility to ensure conducive atmosphere for them at all times.

I have assured doctors that Modi govt is committed to their cause and appealed to reconsider their proposed protest. pic.twitter.com/AJcxghGRkx

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) April 22, 2020

Several former office-bearers of tha IMA appealed to doctors not to stage the symbolic protest at a time when the country is facing its worst public health crisis. They also urged the government to ensure safety and security for the doctors. Several videos of their appeals have been released on social media.

There have been several cases of healthcare workers and police personnel on COVID-19 duty being attacked by mobs in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh Bihar and Bengaluru.

Amid the rising incidents of violence against healthcare worker, the Indian Medical Association had demanded the government bring in a law on an urgent basis to protect medical professionals. The doctors' body had also warned that they will observe a ''Black Day'' if no action is taken by the government and that doctors in the country will work with black badges on April 23.

In a heartbreaking incident in Chennai, an orthopaedic surgeon had to bury his colleague, neurosurgeon Dr Simon Hercules who died of COVID-19, in the middle of the night on Sunday using his bare hands and a shovel at a crematorium with the help of just two hospital wardboys after the undertakers escaped when a mob, alleging that the burial ceremony would spread the infection, attacked their ambulance.

Recently, the body of a doctor from Andhra Pradesh who died from COVID-19 was not allowed at a Chennai crematorium.

In Meghalaya's Shillong, locals refused to allow the last rites of a 69-year-old doctor who died after contracting coronavirus infection.

Six Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) have been formed by the centre earlier to assess the situation regarding the violations of the nationwide lockdown, social distancing norms and attack on doctors, and submit a report to the centre.

19,984 coronavirus cases have been reported in the country so far, including 640 deaths, government data from this morning shows.