New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday slammed the government for punishing the doctors who complain of low quality equipment, referring to a doctor raising concern over 195 staff members of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), India’s premier healthcare research institute, testing positive and two dying of defective equipment like PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment) and N95 masks not meeting the safety standards.
“When doctors complain of low quality equipment, it is the duty of the Govt to listen to their voices and rectify their mistakes. What BJP (Govt) does is to silence their concerns. Why the BJP is so afraid of constructive criticism,” the Congress asked in a tweet.
It was referring to a showcause notice to the AIIMS Resident Doctors Association general secretary Dr Srinivas Rajkumar T to explain his conduct by June 3 or face punitive action. He was only acting as a whistle-blower to tell the media how so many staffers at the institute got infected due to the faulty health gear provided to them and alleged the statistics daily rolled out by the health ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) were false.
The AIIMS administration first allegedly pressured the Association to expel him for giving "baseless statements" and then issued a show-cause notice for action against him. Dr Srinivas said the administration refused to answer the Resident Doctors Association’s queries on supply of the poor quality of the health gear supplied to doctors and healthcare workers and that is why the media was approached for corrective steps.
The association members turned against him for allegedly maligning the image of AIIMS in the media, though at least three doctors defended him and alleged he raised the voice since low quality PPEs were given, especially in the emergency department, and no action was taken despite the complaints.
