IMA up in arms against Maharashtra government

The state government allegedly excluded private doctors from the priority list of the country's Covid-19 vaccination programme

Private doctors are up in arms against the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government once again after it allegedly excluded private doctors, especially general practitioners, and those running their own sonography, pathology, and other centres, from the priority list of the country's Covid-19 vaccination programme.

The Indian Medical Association-Maharashtra State has knocked on the doors of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard and pleaded for the Centre’s intervention.

IMA-Maharashtra President Dr Avinash Bhondwe and Honorary State Secretary Dr Pankaj Bandarkar, in the letter, stated that the Maharashtra government’s order excludes private doctors.

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The government is currently collecting the database of all healthcare workers (HCWs), public and private sectors both, from the states and union territories.

In response to the Centre’s call, the Maharashtra government has sought details of the healthcare workers from the facilities run by the government, municipalities, Zila Parishad along with Ayush hospitals and dispensaries.

However, for the private sector staff, the government has put a clause - “registered with the district”, as per the letter issued by the Public Health Department’s Principal Secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas.

In a subsequent meeting with district collectors, the Health Secretary directed that only the doctors and medical staff of the hospitals under the Bombay Nursing Home Act should be registered.

Dr Bhondwe said that the Covid-19 vaccine will be available to all citizens of India in the next three months. “The Government of India decided that the vaccine should first be given to all doctors in the country, who treated Covid-19 patients without regard for their own lives amid the pandemic. It was also decided that priority will be given to all medical professionals and healthcare workers. The Central government finalised to set up a database for this purpose and published a booklet of guidelines in this regard. This includes all government and private hospitals, government doctors as well as all health workers in private clinics, day OPDs, polyclinics. The central government has planned to vaccinate all these health workers on a priority basis,” he said.

Dr Bhondwe said that the state government’s order has led to the exclusion of doctors from privately-run hospitals, clinics, pathology clinics, X-ray-sonography clinics. “Along with government doctors, private medical professionals have also played a key role in treating patients in the corona epidemic. Of the 61 private doctors who died of Covid-19 in Maharashtra, the number of general practitioners and private clinic owners was higher. Yet, we feel that they have been left out for the reason known only to the government,” he said.

Earlier, the Maharashtra government had rejected the applications of 61 private doctors in Maharashtra for posthumous insurance of Rs 50 lakh, citing similar grievances. Private doctors' requests for getting PPE kits, masks from a certified company, and at reasonable prices have always been denied, he said.