Govt Has no Data on Doctors Who Died of COVID
The Union Health Ministry has no data about the doctors who died on duty due to COVID-19.
Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan addressed the parliament and spoke about the coronavirus outbreak in India. In his statement he did not give any information about the doctors who died while treating covid patients. His junior minister in a statement said that the Central Government had no data on the doctors who died as this is the state government’s responsibility. This has angered the Indian Medical Association (IMA). IMA said that the government does not care about doctors and abandoned those who worked so hard and saved lives during the covid pandemic. The IMA released a list of doctors who died and said that till now 382 doctors have died of coronavirus. In the list it released, the youngest doctor who lost his life was 27 years old and the oldest was 85.
The IMA statement read, “ When the Health Minister did not talk about the doctors who died of COVID in his speech, it shows that our government does not value Indian doctors. The government thinks it's okay if doctors die, they do not care. India has the highest number of doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, who died due to covid.” IMA said that this shows the government’s hypocrisy. Government says doctors are ‘Corona Warriors’ which means they are like soldiers fighting for our country. When soldiers die, their families are given compensation and many benefits. Now the government is calling doctors corona warriors but not compensating the families of those who died. In March the Union Health Ministry had announced that 22.12 lakh public healthcare providers, including community health workers, will get Rs. 50 lakh insurance cover under a national scheme. This was the second time in two days that the government faced criticism over the lack of crucial data.
