BHUBANESWAR: DGP Abhay on Wednesday warned of strict action against those manhandling or misbehaving with doctors and health workers. In an advisory issued to all the SPs and Twin City DCPs, the DGP has asked them to ensure safety of the doctors and other healthcare professionals in the State.
“Few instances of misbehaviour/manhandling of doctors and healthcare professionals have come to our notice. The role of doctors and healthcare workers is very important in the fight against coronavirus. They are the frontline warriors in the war against Covid-19,” said the statement issued by Odisha Police.
Considering the gravity of the situation, the DGP has advised all SPs and DCPs of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack to take up prompt investigation of such matters after registering FIRs against the culprits, it added.
Odisha Police has decided to appoint DSP or above rank officers in each district to supervise such cases and submit the chargesheets and final forms before the courts within a month.
The advisory comes after two nurses working in a private hospital were evicted from their rented houses in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday after which the Odisha Government urged landlords not to ‘lockdown humanity’. A doctor was also thrashed in Talcher recently by the kin of a deceased. This incident was taken very seriously, said a senior police officer. Chief Spokesperson on Covid-19 Subroto Bagchi said two nurses providing home-based critical care or post-hospitalisation care to a patient were evicted from their rented houses by their landlord with support of their neighbours fearing that the women might be carriers of novel coronavirus.