NEW DELHI: The resident doctor of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Srinivas Rajkumar T, who questioned the quality of N95 masks and other components of PPEs being provided to healthcare workers (HCWs) , was issued a show-cause notice on Monday.
Directing Dr Rajkumar to respond by Wednesday, the notice said that his unsubstantiated statements made through a tweet could damage the morale of HCWs, leading them to doubt the protection available to them.
“Dr Srinivas has provided no evidence to support his claims and despite access to intuitional mechanisms for grievance redressal, has chosen to voice his claim on a public platform and sought media visibility to malign the institution… this has been viewed seriously,” said the notice.
“Accordingly, Dr Srinivas is here directed to show cause, why action should not be taken against him breach of CCS (CCA) rules by 5 pm, June 3, failing which will be presumed that he has nothing to say in his support and disciplinary action will be taken.”
Despite attempts, AIIMS authorities did not respond to queries sent by The Morning Standard.Dr Rajkumar, who was the general secretary of AIIMS, Resident Doctors Association (RDA), was suspended after he highlighted the alleged faults in PPEs provided to HCWs.
Meanwhile, Dr Rajkumar said he would provide a detailed explanation to the notice.
“Intense scrutiny of an elected representative’s personal tweets raises fear of Orwellian surveillance state during a pandemic... Not a time to blame the government. Our feedback is for improvement for the wellbeing of healthcare workers,” he said.