Maharashtra doctors blamed the state government for discrimination and has written a letter to the central government for excluding more than 2 lakh private doctors and healthcare staff from the list of frontline workers that are eligible to get the first COVID vaccine.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA), Maharashtra chapter has already written a letter to the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister, Union Health Minister and state health minister probe the matter of "utter injustice".

The letter was sent amidst the hints that India might have a COVID-19 vaccine by early next year. The central government had ordered states to prepare a list of all private and government healthcare workers who are at the forefront in the battle against this pandemic having nearly 83 lakh cases.

The letter has mentioned and blamed the state health secretary for not including private doctors from Maharashtra in the list even though the central government has given orders to vaccinate all healthcare workers on a priority basis. Maharashtra is the countrys worst-affected state with nearly 17 lakh coronavirus cases.

Apart from the government doctors, private medical professionals are also playing an important role in treating COVID-19 patients. The letter also read the ongoing war with the Maharashtra government as the state has refused to extend the centres posthumously insurance cover of ₹ 50 lakh - CORONA KAVACH to 61 medical professionals died on duty while treating coronavirus patients.

The circular that was sent by the state Health Secretary to all district collectors, divisional commissioners and municipal commissioners has also been criticised by the Dharavi Ayush Doctors Association and Association of Medical Consultants.

Dr Akhtar Sheikh, General Secretary of the Dharavi Ayush Doctors Association, said that private doctors have helped the BMC, Mumbai municipal body, in screening and testing people when no one was ready to enter Dharavi, Asias largest slum.

Amidst the pandemic, the IMA has been raising its voice for better treatment of doctors. It had issued a list of doctors who had died in the line of COVID-19 duty as the Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan did not mention about the deaths of healthcare staff due to coronavirus in his Parliament address. Also, his junior minister had admitted that the government wasn’t maintaining the data.

The IMA has also started a fund to support families of doctors who died due to the coronavirus pandemic and wrote a sharply worded letter regarding the non-payment of salary to doctors in Delhis Hindu Rao Hospital.

Source: NDTV