Resident Doctors become Impatient over Government Apathy
Bengaluru,28 June(HS): Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors(KARD) attempts to draw the attention of concerned authorities, the Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education Minister about their woes, plight and demands continue to remain unattended.
Their repeated reminders over the pending demands for more than 15 months into the pandemic haven’t helped in changing the situation for the better. Amidst continuous, extended hours and no weekly off routine, the junior doctors have been at an unprecedented receiving end hitherto unheard of even to their seniors in their lifetime.
During the first wave, 61 doctors succumbed to the deadly virus in the state while so far. eight of them became victims this year so far. What looks intriguing, cruel but unfortunately hardcore reality is some of them in the current year passed away for not getting beds in time.
And their crime, the fatal infections they developed while trying to treat the admitted patients. In fact, the first wave had been much more horrible. At many places in the state and likewise, any number of them elsewhere across the country underwent a suffocative atmosphere at their workplaces.
The doctors on duty, which at times appeared never-ending despite overworking incessantly even had to struggle for getting bare minimum precautionary facilities. There were any number of instances in the private Medical Institutes, wherein Post Graduate Medical students were compelled to work with low quality and more vulnerable Personal Protective Equipment(PPE)!
At many places, they literally struggled to survive the life-threatening adverse situation until they got proper PPE. Some of them were exposed to the extreme conditions of actually living with the dead for hours and days due to the inadequate infrastructure and manpower in shifting the corpses to the mortuary!
All these traumatic incidents have also paved the way for an uncertain future to Medical Education. According to a serving senior surgeon with more than three decades of experience with a national institute regretted: The medical field looks to be at a loss. Many aspiring doctors and their parents are now thinking twice about whether to pursue medicine or opt-out to safer, better and alternative professions. The situation has gone out of control to such an extent that young people are preferring to switch over to less risky fields rather than put their own lives into a big mess!
According to the memorandum of the Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors(KARD), their demands continue to remain so 15 months into the pandemic with the resident doctors across the state contributing to the fullest possible. More than a thousand doctors have also got infected battling the pandemic.
Dr Namratha C., President of KARD laments: We have already given numerous representations in the past regarding de-listing of medical colleges from covid, consideration for academic fee waives off, measures to ensure the safety of working doctors. However, the demands are unmet in spite of multiple representations being made.
Just like the Kannada proverb “Marali Yatnava Maadu” meaning ‘Keep continuing the effort’, KARD continues to submit these memorandums despite all such appeals presented earlier are yet to bear the desired results.
The Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors(KARD) has demanded the setting up of a state-level legal cell as a one-time solution for resolving the long-standing issue of assault on health care workers. The doctors’ body claims it to be the first kind of initiative in the country. Apart from aiming at preventing further assaults the measure also intends in following up the pending cases.
Waiving Off Academic Fee: “There is no doubt that Post Graduation plays an important milestone in shaping the career of a doctor. It is these three years that give maximum learning exposure, as well as introduce doctors to research activities. However, for the past one year and more than three months, the Post Graduates have been doing exclusively Covid duties. This is nothing else but compromising their academic activities as well as undergoing risky exposure”, says KARD in its memorandum.
The Association of Resident Doctors charges: “Nearly half of the learning period in post-graduation tenure has yielded almost nil academic benefit as well as specialized skills. Karnataka happens to be one of the states in the country that holds the dubious distinction of levying the highest fee and pay the lowest stipend”.
It also threatens: “Until the Medical Education Department realises its role in training the future doctors, we will not be paying next academic year tuition fees while demanding the return of the previous year’s academic fees. The Rs 1,19,470/- collected as annual academic fees is the highest among government medical colleges in the country in comparison to the Rs 45,000/- stipend which again is the lowest among all colleges in India”.
Delisting of Medical Colleges from Covid Duties: The Resident Doctors Association KARD has also demanded delisting of Medical colleges from Covid related duties. With more than 15 months into the pandemic now, the major burden of Covid care has been borne by the Medical colleges. Medical colleges are supposed to be teaching hospitals rather than transform into Covid care centres.
KARD claims: “Considering the brunt of the pandemic, all the resident doctors have willingly contributed at the cost of academics! However, it is also the duty of the authorities to look for an alternate infrastructure apart from medical colleges. Resident doctors of Karnataka hope that the government has taken enough measure to uplift peripheral health centres, and dedicate medical colleges into exclusive non-covid care, or at least running both parallelly with preference to non-covid care”.
