Covid has been a biowar of epic proportions, in which thousands of health care workers have sacrificed their lives, and has brought the world to a standstill for the last 2 years (About 1700 physicians, and more than 5000 health care workers in India including nursing and paramedics, hospital administrative staff, pharma sector, law and order, and sanitation workers. For an estimate, about 3100 indian soldiers either lost their lives or went missing during the Indo China war of 1962.). This has also claimed the lives of about 450,000 people across India, and this fire is still raging. But this loss has been conveniently forgotten, with continued exploitation, zero acknowledgement, and renewed incidence of violence against healthcare workers. Sign my petition.

I decided to talk about this not just as a responsible citizen but also as a doctor. I am a general physician based in Dehradun. I was down with COVID and lost 4 family members during the deadly 2nd wave that hit in April-May 2021. This issue is personal for me and should be for every citizen who has either suffered or watched others suffer. What the public knows about the hardships faced by medical fraternity is just the tip of the iceberg. Trust me, fighting becomes even more difficult when you are depressed by the death of your closed loved ones, and there is no motivation left

If these kind of epidemics deserve the same war proportions preparations and sacrifices that physical wars do, then the orphans and widows of these healthcare providers also deserve the same dignity.

However, neither is there any official estimate available publically, nor have their orphans and widows been acknowledged. Human cattle farming instead of human resource management continues to be the order of the day for Health care providers. Ill-equipped, understaffed, and under trained foot soldiers continue to man the government hospitals, where government servants don’t take their wards for treatment, because they are swarmed by the common populace. On the other hand occupational hazard is the number one killer in private hospitals. Where, if you catch a communicable disease from a patient, you can recover at your own cost including medical leaves, or in case of a more serious illness like for e.g. hepatitis, or HIV, you can even lose your job. So you get kicked out of the system, when you need it most. Instead of receiving a gallantry award, you receive a dismissal including becoming a social pariah for having hepatitis or HIV, or chronic lung disease following Covid. However, when these incidents don’t get acknowledged they don’t even receive their due attention, and the situation remain status quo until the next big epidemic. Sign my petition.

This is especially true of the health care workers coming from lower income group, for whom covid came as catastrophic health expenditure, and a loss of a bread winner in such circumstancesiis unimaginable.

Despite all these sacrifices, violence including verbal and physical abuse against healthcare providers continues in India. Discrimination against the foot soldiers of healthcare was also rampant during the Covid epidemic and even before that, with the fear that they do not spread infectious disease in the society, and for the nature of the work involved. This would discourage anyone from taking up nursing and sanitation as a profession in future. People want cleanliness and health, but they dont wish to give due respect to the sanitation worker and the nurse and paramedic.

This campaign is to create a count of the deceased, permanently affected (severe organ system involvement leading to discontinuation of work), temporarily affected (who had to take time off from work for treatment), family members affected due to Covid of the health workers, so that occupational hazard in healthcare can be acknowledged and policy level change can help the affected personnel’s and family members of the health care workers.Their orphans and widows deserve reservation in jobs and education, alongwith scholarship. But all this will start with acknowledgement and accountability

Sign my petition today.

Further, a "Covid Martyrs day" to acknowledge the sacrifice of the health care workers, and their orphans and widows. In addition, a place should be allocated to build a memorial where the names of all the health care workers who have sacrificed their lives should be mentioned. So that the present and future generations know what it takes to become a healthcare provider and give them their due respect, instead of violence and discrimination against them.

https://twitter.com/ChangeOrg_India/status/1453711051933958152?s=20