CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association (TNGDA) has announced a boycott protest on Monday to draw the chief minister’s attention towards the alleged mistreatment of doctors by certain district collectors, directors, and other officials of the health department.
In its press release, TNGDA said that, of late, doctors are treated like criminals by Tiruchy, Virudhunagar, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Mayiladuthurai, Dharmapuri, and Tirupattur collectors. The directors of the directorates of the health department are also ill-treating the doctors. The most recent incident was during the review meeting with deans by the National Health Mission (Tamil Nadu) mission director (MD-NHM).
The doctors alleged that at the recent review meeting with deans and directors, the MD-NHM said he will hold the head of department and the medical college dean responsible for even one maternal or fever death, and doctors who feel their salary is not sufficient can leave the job. He allegedly also said that doctors should work even if they are attacked at the hospital, else they can leave the job.
The doctors working in PHCs, ESI dispensaries, taluk, district, and medical colleges will boycott all meetings, whether online or in person. They will also exit from all official WhatsApp groups, the association said. All camps including Varumun Kappom will be stopped.
TNGDA has also demanded to fill over 5,000 vacancies and increase the doctors’ strength in proportion to the number of patients. The monthly review meeting by collectors should be conducted during working hours. Further, there should not be a ranking system for doctors and hospitals based on medical index, which is done taking into account only a few aspects, they added.
If these demands of the doctors are not met, elective surgeries in obstetricians and gynaecology departments in DME, DMS and DPH, ESI hospitals will be stopped on Tuesday (November 26), the association said. The next course of action will be decided in the TNGDA state emergency committee meeting. Since MD-NHM has instructed to admit all one-day fever cases, TNGDA requested heads of the institutions to increase the number of beds.