I have to start with a slightly disheartening note. We, as Indian pe4ople, have failed a sector of society we should give our highest respect, that is, our healthcare workers, those who have been on the frontlines battling with the Covid-19 disease.
Ever since the first positive case of Covid-19 was identified in India, our country has been barraged by news of disgusting and often life-threatening acts in certain parts of the country against healthcare workers including nurses, doctors and ancillary workers. Health workers while going or returning from work have been attacked by people, barred from entering their own homes, threatened with eviction.
On April 19, people not only attacked healthcare workers but also specifically attacked Dr Simon Hercules’ hearse (Dr Hercules died of health complications possibly related to Covid - 19) with stones and logs, denying him the right of a decent burial, showing the heights of our brutality. The numerous news of attacks on our frontline warriors staggers me and my conscience cannot really take it. It is both remorseful and traumatic to watch the citizens of my country behaving so ruthlessly with other citizens who are putting their lives on the line to protect them.
Our positive cases count has reached in multiple lakhs now, and every person who is tested positive depends on healthcare workers for their lives. Every recovered patient, and even all possible contacts and acquaintances are somehow indebted to health workers in the country. Mind you, these barbaric attacks are not limited to India, but have spurted all across the world. So what exactly makes few people attack or even try to kill these saviours?
Panic, terror, misinformation and ignorance, in my opinion, are the primary reasons behind the abuses and violence against healthcare workers in the Covid-19 world. There is a social stigma which exists with those tested positive. What is worse is that this social stigma overflows to healthcare workers who have to deal with this pandemic by putting their life on the lines for others. Plus certain elements are spinning a communal angle to this, which complicates things further.
In the early days of the HIV/AIDs awareness campaign in this country, people had often reacted in a similar manner. Instead of considering the virus as a disease, one has to fight through providing moral support to those who have contracted it.
Certain people have coloured it with a ‘stigma of impurity’. And through all these negative messages, hate-mongering, fear and rumours, stone-pelting and denying burial rights, the healthcare workers - those godly figures who are trying to protect us and keep us safe from this pandemic- are those who are ironically being harmed the most.
This has to STOP! The way ahead can be built on two grounds- one is imposing strict laws against such inciters of violent conduct; and the other is conducting awareness-building workshops to provide people clarity and make them understand what Covid- 19 is and how much good our health workers are doing for us.
To protect our healthcare workers from the attacks across the country, the Central Government has, very appropriately, approved an ordinance to amend the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897. The amendment makes any such attack or violence against doctors or medical personnel a cognisable and non-bailable offence. Further, any investigation is required to be completed within 30 days and the applicable jail time may be three months to five years and a fine of Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh (6 months to 5 years and 1 lakh to 5 lakh in grievous cases).
This is a very forward thinking step considering that we have to step in urgently to protect our health workers and punish those people indulging in such barbaric acts against them. Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi also tweeted on the same matter, emphasising on the importance of safety for medical professionals.
This historic amendment in the country was made when Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik declared that doctors and healthcare professionals of both public and private medical facilities in the State, who lose their lives in the fight against Covid-19, will be hailed as “martyrs” and will be given a State funeral with full State honours, along with pledging Rs 50 lakh for the kin of the deceased. The statement, the first of its kind in our country, has heightened the spirit of doctors and medical workers in Odisha, even where there has not been a single instance of assault on them.
The message of Patnaik made people aware of the situation; it gave the necessary strength and dignity that the medical workers deserved, it also laid a strict foundation against violators but most importantly, this message, re-defined patriotism. Customarily, martyrdom is the highest honour sought by any military personnel engaged in defending the country. In a Covid-dominated world and the post-Covid design of human society, the concept of security and patriotism is from the point of view of health and well-being.
Patnaik defined the broader meaning of security and patriotism in his video message and the implementation of the law that Odisha is accepting. This has rightly proved that “What Odisha does today, India does tomorrow”.
(Dr Samanta is MP, Kandhamal, and founder, KIIT & KISS)