TIRUVANNAMALAI: Assistant professors attached to the general medicine department in Government Tiruvannamalai Medical College Hospital (GTMCH) have alleged discrimination in the allocation of COVID isolation ward duty forcing them to work for long hours.
The issue, which has been going on for a while, reached its boiling point when the aggrieved assistant professors of general medicine shot off memorandums to the Chief Minister’s special cell and top authorities of the Health Department.
Their major grievance is that they were forced to work for 12 hours a day but their counterparts in the Anaesthesia department were spared from attending regular COVID ward duty.
“We are forced to sweat it out at least 12 hours a day. But the assistant professors from the Anaesthesia department are not posted for regular COVID ward duty, they escape the ordeal with only on-call duty,” alleged an aggrieved assistant professor of general medicine.
Overexposure at the COVID ward is stated to have been taking a heavy toll on their mental and physical health, he stated while blaming the top authorities of the administration of acting in partisan owing to pressure from a senior most hand in the hospital.
However, GTMCH dean Dr Thirumal Babu denied the charges.
“We have told them to work in an eight-hour shift in a day but they preferred to do 12-hour shift. They do so only to take two weeks quarantine rest,” he said.
The dean stated that there are 17 assistant professors serving with the general medicine department, so there is no question of workload for them, while the Anaesthesia department only 8 assistant professors.
“I have already taken efforts to sort out certain issues between the two departments. There is nothing serious to take it to the CM cell,” he noted.