Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan’s statement in the Parliament acknowledges the contribution of health care workers during this pandemic but it conceals the morbidity and mortality of doctors, nurses and healthcare workers.

This indifference to the sacrifice of doctors and health care workers is the reality of Covid, said the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in a media statement.

IMA is a voluntary organisation of doctors, who practice the modern scientific system of medicine. It looks after the interest of doctors and has branches in 23 States and nine Union Territories. It has over 78,000 doctors as its members through over 1,274 local branches spread all over the country.

‘Doctors at risk’

The statement said that no nation has lost as many doctors and healthcare workers to Covid like India. Doctors have four times more chances of mortality than ordinary citizens due to the viral infection. However, if the government doesn’t maintain the statistics of the total number of doctors and health care workers infected by Covid and how many of them sacrificed their lives due to the pandemic, then it loses the moral authority to administer the Epidemic Act 1897 and the Disaster Management Act.

Govt rapped

It also exposes the government’s hypocrisy of calling them corona warriors on one hand and denying them and their families the status and benefits of martyrdom.

While the brave soldiers on the borders fight the enemy and yet none of them bring home the bullets to be shared with their families. On the contrary, the doctors and healthcare workers not only get infected in the line of their national duty but also bring home the infection to their families including children, the statement added.

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