NE NEWS SERVICE
PUDUCHERRY JULY 21
Doctors, nursing staff and health workers in government hospitals and Public Health Centres staged a demonstration here on Tuesday over Lt Governor Kiran Bedi’s reported remarks against them recently, a charge denied by the Raj Nivas.
The demonstration had its echo in the ongoing session of the territorial Assembly when members of the ruling Congress condemned Bedi’s alleged remarks and demanded that she tender an apology. Parliamentary Secretary K Lakshminarayanan brought in a special mention in the House, drawing its attention to the ”critical comments” of Bedi.
He also wanted the House to adopt a resolution, condemning the Lt Governor for her remarks. A spokesman of the Unified Health Employees’ Joint Action committee said that the demonstrators wore black badges to register their protest against her ”comments” on the staff during her visit to the health department to assess the work done in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic situation. “Health staffs are putting in strenuous work to combat the pandemic. If our work is not recognised and is criticised, we will only practically be demoralised”, the spokesman said.
He alleged that a senior official was specifically rebuked by the Lt Governor. A spokesman of the Puducherry unit of Indian Medical Association said that it was a matter of concern that the Lt Governor had criticised the health department in discharging its duties to combat the pandemic. However Raj Nivas sources denied the charge, took strong exception to the legislators` condemning Bedi for her alleged remarks and clarified that her inspection was to ensure that all arrangements were there to combat the pandemic.
MOA lodged complaint against Bedi
Earlier on Monday, the Puducherry Government Medical Officers Association (PGMOA) has written a letter to Director (Health), Puducherry government, complaining against Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi for allegedly demeaning a senior colleague of their fraternity.
The Association said that they condemn the “unruly, inhuman behaviour” by the Lieutenant Governor (LG) towards their colleague during a video conference on July 19.
“One of our senior-most doctors was questioned and demeaned by our LG at our office premises. This has deeply wounded all of our fraternity. We request you to kindly look into the matter and settle the issue. The intimidating manner of handling a very senior officer of the Health Department in front of subordinates and staff of other departments, and having popularised the video for the fame has disturbed us a lot,” the letter written by the Association read.
“Further the LG’s words, that she is reserving the video without release and blackmailing the concerned official in the 4 pm video conference yesterday, was not expected from her,” it added.
Stressing that the entire medical department has been working in full swing during the COVID-19 crisis phase, the association asserted that the LG’s conduct on Sunday has “insulted” the untiring work done by them.
“In such uncertain and unprecedented situations. Her (Bedi)empathy would have been more welcome rather than authoritarian behaviour exhibited. The PHC medical officers are presented with multiple supervisory hierarchies in which they are forced to work in constant state of fear, which adversely affects their performance. Further, the field staff are forced to duplicate their work in soft copies,” it said.
Keeping the severity of the situation in mind, the association will continue working in the larger public interest, the letter added.
As of Sunday, the COVID-19 count in Puducherry stood at 1,999 according to the Directorate of Health and Family Welfare Services, Pudducherry government. 109 new positive cases were reported on July 19.
This includes 1,154 cured and discharged patients and 28 deaths having been reported due to the disease. There are 817 active cases in the union territory.
