Attacks on healthcare professionals on COVID-19 duty on rise

Healthcare professionals are increasingly coming under attack during treatment of COVID-19 patients or while visiting localities for conducting tests, adding more worries at a time several had faced harassment at the hands of their landlords and locals.

Doctors are now raising the demand for deployment of CRPF personnel in the hospital to enable them to work in a safer environment besides strong action against those who take law into their hands.

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The latest incident was that of Tatpatti Bakhal in Madhya Pradesh's Indore where two doctors and other healthcare workers were attacked on Wednesday when they went to the locality to screen people for COVID-19. Indore has the largest number of at least 75 out of the nearly 100 COVID-19 cases in the state.

The locals pelted stones at the team of doctors and Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) and Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) workers and were shooed away from the area, following which seven persons were arrested.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday issued a strong warning to those involved in such incidents in a tweet, saying no one will be spared who puts a spanner in the efforts to fight COVID-19. In another tweet, he said, “this is not just a tweet. This is a strong warning. Human rights are for humans.”

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This area is under the special watch of the health authorities in the city as it has been earmarked as an epicentre of the virus spread. This was the second incident in Indore in less than a week after locals in Ranipura area allegedly spat at officials and abused them during the screening process.

Another incident was reported from Telangana where relatives of a 49-year-old COVID-19 patient attacked doctors after his death, accusing them of the negligence of duty. This prompted the junior doctors to petition the government to provide them proper security.

“The relatives blamed the doctors for the death and slapped and attacked them. The 49-year-old man already had co-morbidity issues. He died while being treated for COVID-19,” a statement issued by the Telangana Junior Doctors Association said. It also said there were similar incidents in Khammam and Nizamabad.

On Thursday, the Resident Doctor's Association in AIIMS-Delhi joined their Telangana counterparts in solidarity and shot off a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking his intervention in ensuring the security of healthcare professionals across the country.

"It is extremely disheartening to know that such events continue unabated even when this country is going through this massive pandemic. Such actions would destroy the morale of frontline healthcare workers deployed in such testing situation," the letter signed RDA President Dr Adarsh Pratap Singh, Vice President Dr Chandan Palit and General Secretary Dr Srinivas Rajkumar.

Need for the deployment of police was also raised by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday after a video conference he had with doctors treating COVID-19 patients in the national capital. The doctors had told Kejriwal that some patients were turning aggressive and cited one incident in Rajiv Gandhi Hospital where doctors had to intervene to prevent the attempt of one person admitted there to commit suicide.

"The doctors told me that no one was willing to touch that person. They sought deployment of police in the hospitals where COVID-19 patients. I will be approaching the Union Home Secretary for the deployment of police," Kejriwal had said.

Earlier, there were complaints about doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals facing eviction from their rented accommodations as house-owners were wary of virus infection, as they were engaged closely with COVID-19 related activities. In several cities, the healthcare professionals also faced stigma and harassment with several refusing to engage with them.

This had prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to issue an appeal not to mistreat doctors and healthcare workers as they battle to save the country from one of the most infectious viral attacks in recent years. "In this hour of crisis, those in white coats are the incarnation of God. Today they are saving lives, putting their own lives in danger," Modi had said during an interaction with the people of his constituency Varanasi on COVID-19 via video link.

The Centre has also announced a medical cover of Rs 50 crore for those in the forefront of the fight against the deadly virus. Delhi government also announced a Rs one crore compensation to the families of those engaged in the treatment of COVID-19 who dies during their duty.