More state officials join striking doctors as protest against Yavatmal collector intensifies

However, the demand for the transfer of the Collector, who has been accused of seeking reports from health department officials till as late as 1.30 am, and also of using foul language, is growing.

As the situation turned serious, Amravati Divisional Commissioner Piyush Singh called a delegation of representatives of all the organisations and held discussions with them.

“They are complaining that the Collector talks to them in a very rude way. I have assured them that I would talk to the Collector and help mitigate the discord. I have told the health officials not to interact with the Collector and report only to the Zilla Parishad CEO, to whom they are supposed to report. The CEO can then brief the Collector,” said Singh.

“I may travel to Yavatmal on Thursday if the situation warrants it,” he added.

Meanwhile, Amravati Division’s Deputy Director of Health Services. Riyaz Farooqui, has apprised the state Health Secretary, Pradeep Vyas, about the happenings in Yavatmal. “I have informed the Secretary. I have also visited Yavatmal and discussed it with Collector. I have told the health officials to continue working regularly since we are faced with the Covid challenge,” he said.

Yavatmal unit president of Maharashtra Gazetted (Group A) Medical Officers Organisation (MAGMO), Vijay Akolkar, said, “On Monday, we had tendered mass resignations. Today, we were joined in by various Revenue department officials too, like BDOs, tahsildars, naib-tahsildars and Cos, since they have also experienced foul treatment from the Collector. He often used terms like third-class, kaamchor (work-shirker), useless and other such terms while addressing us. So, he should now do things in his own way. We will only carry out emergency work. But we will not be reporting anything to him.”

As reported earlier, MAGMO had raised seven major demands with the Collector in a representation submitted on Monday.

The Indian Medical Association, Maharashtra unit, has also condemned the “ill-treatment” of doctors. In a release, it said, “IMA fully supports the protest by government medical officers against insulting and arrogant behaviour (from higher government offices). Similar treatment is meted out to private doctors too. We have time and again informed about this to the chief minister, health minister and chief secretary… A meeting on May 14 on this issue had led to a promise by the chief secretary that such things won’t recur. But this hadn’t changed anything. So, we had re-issued the warning that this could have far-reaching implications for patient services in the state… But all promises for improvement in this respect have proved to be superficial.”