Govt doctors plan protest against senior officials

Chennai: Govt doctors have threatened to stop all medical camps and boycott meetings held at the district level from Monday to protest against "the harassment meted out to doctors" by senior officials of the directorate of public health (DPH), national health mission (NHM), directorate of medical health and rural services (DMS), and district collectors.

The Tamil Nadu Govt Doctors Association has said doctors will not perform elective surgeries in the obstetrics and gynaecology departments from Tuesday if their demands, including filling up of about 5,000 vacancies, are not met. They will exit all official WhatsApp groups and not update govt portals including those that monitor maternal health, and quality of care in labour rooms.

After holding an executive meeting on Sunday, the association listed a number of incidents in which the doctors were "treated like criminals in districts including Trichy, Virudhunagar, Thanjavur, Mayiladuthurai and Dharmapuri". There were assaults on doctors in Chennai and Trichy. The association also condemned the NHM director Arun Thamburaj for his remarks about hospital heads and department heads for maternal deaths.

Requesting chief minister M K Stalin to intervene in the matter at the earliest, the association has also passed resolutions seeking anonymous maternal death audit, monthly review meetings by district collectors during office hours, stopping the ranking of doctors and hospitals, and allowing voluntary retirement of doctors like other govt departments. .

Meanwhile, the Service Doctors and Post Graduates Association (SDPGA) too has condemned the attitude of IAS officers and senior officials towards govt doctors. "We demand that our professionals be treated with dignity," it said.