Nagpur updates:- Happy with law, doctors walk away from protest
Nagpur updates: Doctors and medical professionals attached to the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and its sister organisations have both called off symbolic demonstrations that they were about to witness for their long-awaited demand for a central legislation to ban violence against doctors.
On April 22 IMA had organized a White Warning protest and on April 23 a Black Day protest. The decision to withdraw protests came after the central government cleared the ordinance and declared acts of violence against health-care workers as cognizable, non-bailable offences.
“It’s a good central government decision and it’s very much needed at this stage. Doctors are warriors on the frontline against coronavirus. Unfortunately, in many cases, even in Maharashtra, they face abuse from patients’ relatives,” said Dr. Kush Jhunjhunwala, IMA Nagpur chief.
Going a step further, IMA has now requested the government to require all hospitals to work regularly to ensure that non-Covid patients provide proper healthcare services.
“During this lockout time hospitals and clinics across the country will remain open and operate. Universal steps will be taken, including PPEs, social distancing, hand hygiene, and other marks. There is a need to upgrade non-Covid facilities, “reads IMA national president Dr. Rajan Sharma’s declaration. At present, only emergency and essential services in non-Covid hospitals are allowed.
“We will create a separate category of ‘urgent’ services for cancer operations, organ transplants, etc., apart from the emergency and critical services,” the statement reads on.
The medical association is also opposed to local authorities’ proposals to purchase private hospitals for Covid-19 quarantine centers.
“The custom of quarantining hospitals is an exercise which is self-defeating. Not only are the hospital facilities in question lost to the nation, but the stigmatisation would also leave it dead and forever dead, “the statement says. Instead, several steps have been suggested by the doctors’ association to effectively address the Covid-19 problem.
