The Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association demanded the chief minister take action against senior officials harassing doctors. They warned that, starting Tuesday, 26 November, non-urgent surgeries in the maternity department would be halted in protest
Published Nov 28, 2024 | 11:34 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 28, 2024 | 11:34 AM
Old photo: Members of the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association who went on a hunger strike in March 2023 to press for various demands.
The Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association announced that the chief minister should take action against senior government officials harassing government doctors. They announced that if the harassment does not stop, all non-urgent surgeries in the maternity department would be stopped from Tuesday, 26 November, in protest.
The state executive committee meeting of the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association was held online on Sunday, 24 November under the chairmanship of state president K Senthil and general secretary A Srinivasan. “For the past few months, the district magistrates of Tiruchirappalli, Virudhunagar, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Mayiladuthurai, Dharmapuri and Tirupattur have been treating doctors like criminals,” the doctors noted at the meeting.
Obstetricians, in particular, the doctors noted, had been threatened, abused and harassed in the name of the maternal mortality audit. The issue of medical college students kept locked in the auditorium and in the collector’s office was also noted.
The officials had threatened to take doctors off work if even one pregnant woman died in the districts of Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Mayiladuthurai and Tirupattur.
It was also reported that if a pregnant woman dies in Dharmapuri district, the entire hospital – whether private or government-owned – would be shut down. The Dharmapuri District Collector has advised that strict action will be taken under the Tamil Nadu Clinical Establishment Act if maternal deaths occur in government and private hospitals and a recommendation will be made to cancel the hospital’s license.
Doctors were instructed that the Directorate of Public Health would monitor the activities of doctors and nurses over CCTV. The National Health Mission obstetrics audit also showed that joint director level staff of the government had been taking to task obstetricians functioning without proper medical qualifications.
Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association General Secretary A Srinivasan said doctors were being punished despite performing their duties to patients in difficult circumstances. “Despite shortage of staff and other shortcomings, doctors attempt to treat all patients who arrive, without making any demands from the government. Even so, there is this harassment,” he said.
Most of the doctors taking part in the Sunday meeting worked for the DPH, Directorate of Medical Education and the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services.
Obstetricians expressed despair, and were reaching the end of their tether, Srinivasan said. Brutal attacks on doctors took place in Chennai and Tiruchirappalli. Doctors noted that the sentiment had spread that attacking doctors was not wrong, in the event of failure of treatment.
Srinivasan said the authorities were leaving doctors to fend for themselves, and giving up on doctors in public. He mentioned that the last time he spoke at the meeting of medical college principals, the Managing Director of the NHM accused the principals and DME of treating government servants poorly – there were nearly 400 department heads present at the time. Doctors said the most recent incident was during a review meeting with deans by the National Health Mission (Tamil Nadu) Mission Director (MD-NHM). The MD-NHM reportedly had said he would hold the head of department and medical college dean accountable for any maternal or fever related deaths and doctors who feel the salary was less could leave their jobs.
Srinivasan said the MD NHM threatened that if any pregnant woman dies, the head of the maternity department and the principal of the medical college would be held to account; if a patient with fever dies, the MD had said, the head of that department and the principal of the medical college would be arrested.
The doctors said that when they raise their grievances, they are told that they work for wages and if not granted these in time, they must just stop working. Even when hospitals are hobbled by large number of vacancies and doctors find themselves in difficult circumstances, they are expected to continue working. “Even if doctors are attacked at work, they have to continue to work; if they cannot work, they are told to give up their jobs,” Srinivasan said.
The doctors say there are a large number of vacancies in government hospitals in Tamil Nadu, with estimates putting the number of vacant positions at nearly 5000. Reports indicate that no recruitment of specialist doctors has occurred in the state since 2013. Doctors are saddled with additional workload on account of the large number of vacancies.
Raising their concerns in public is discouraged, since it is seen as a deliberate attempt to malign the governance record of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who is generally seen as providing good governance during his three-and-a-half year tenure.
The high-ranking officials against whom the doctors have taken their complaint work under the supervision of the state chief minister, and the doctors association has passed a resolution seeking that the issue be brought to the attention of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin. “The chief minister should intervene and take action against the officials harassing doctors,” one doctor said.
The doctors demand that vacant positions be filled expeditiously, and that positions be created in accordance with rising population that the hospitals cater to.
They sought that the government abide by the guidelines of the World Health Organisation, and that the maternal death audit be conducted anonymously, without collecting names.
The doctors demand that if district collectors call meetings, they should schedule them within the work day, and not after office hours.
Many doctors are women, and the majority of nurses are women – meetings after 5 pm puts staff at great inconvenience, and late-night meetings could make commuting back hard, especially for women.
The doctors stated that if their demands are not met, doctors at primary health centers, Employees State Insurance dispensaries, district, taluka, other hospitals, medical colleges and hospitals will boycott all online and offline meetings called by the government officials.
Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association state president K Senthil said, “If the government does not accept our demands, we will exit all WhatsApp groups of the state administration and hospital department as a first step.” Doctors said they would halt the Varum Mun Kaappom camp.
If an amicable solution cannot be arrived at, all non-urgent surgeries in the maternity department (Elective Surgeries in OBG) will be stopped in DME, DMS, DPH, and ESI hospitals from tomorrow, the doctors said.
If after all this no solution is found, the doctors stated that a meeting would be called on 28 November to decide on the future course of intensified protest.
(Edited by Rosamma)
