Healthworkers honoured by WHO, Waiting for GOI recognition

Dear All,
At a time when the world is speedily hurtling back to “normalcy”, many of us are still reeling from the effects of the 2nd wave of COVID - the mental, physical, emotional and psychological toll it took on us. Topping the list are doctors and healthworkers. As you know I’m a doctor who worked throughout the pandemic, contracted COVID, lost 4 family members. The absence of official acknowledgement of what we went through has disappointed me on many levels. Your support was a source of encouragement and motivation. Thank you. Click here to spread the word so that more people who relate to this join this campaign.

A few days ago the WHO honoured india’s community healthworkers called ASHAs (accredited social health activists) for their crucial role in providing direct access to healthcare to millions of homes in rural India. I too salute these hardworking people.

I wish our own government would acknowledge the work of the ASHAs by increasing their incentives and wages, and would also recognise the sacrifices of the large medical community that I belong to by releasing an official figure of the deceased and affected; policy changes to benefit health personnel and their family members.

The government provides the corporate hospitals under PPP mode, subsidized land (almost free@ Re 1/ sq.m in metros), tax subsidies, and cheap labour (because doctors cannot run hospitals due to the clinical establishment act and expensive education loans to complete medical studies; nurses cannot work as nurse practitioners; and lab technicians cannot run even basic laboratory services even in underserved areas. So the corporate HR has a monopoly over the human resources). However, the government does not provide any subsidized land or tax subsidies to healthcare providers to work in underserved areas. They demand they follow the same rule in villages, that apply to metros. But will blame the healthcare providers for not going to the villages to serve humanity.

We demand equal opportunities for the healthcare providers as the corporate. Along with it we need financial assistance and reservation in jobs and education for the orphaned children and widowed spouses.

NEXT: 10,000 people have signed this petition. I believe this number will easily cross 50,000 because this issue and the sentiment are echoing in the homes of doctors across the country. It’s important that this petition reach every doctor and every non-doctor. Please come together and share this petition on WhatsApp so that we reach every Indian who has access to digital India. Click now to share on WhatsApp

Mass support is the only thing that will make the Government stop and think about us.

Thank you,
Dr Mayank Dabral