Srinagar: Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) Wednesday strongly condemned the unprecedented termination of a doctor of SKIMS Bemina who was sacked for demanding standard accredited protective gear.
The Kashmir Monitor has reported on Tuesday how SKIMS Medical College Bemina terminated the services of a junior resident Dr Asif Ali Bhat after he demanded standard personal protection equipment (PPE).
While on Wednesday doctors at the College staged a silent protest against it, president DAK Dr Suhail Naik in an official statement said that it was unfortunate that Dr Bhat was terminated without holding a proper inquiry or without any prior warning.
“This is sheer power arrogance and it seems our health institutions stand hijacked by some white-collar officials,” he said.
Dr Naik said it was very unfortunate and unethical to terminate a young frontline doctor who just demanded a standard PPE.
“On one hand government is recruiting retired doctors to add to deficient human resources and on the other hand young doctor is terminated without any inquiry,” he said.
General Secretary DAK, Dr Owais H Dar said that demanding accredited PPE is their fundamental right and it is the responsibility of administration to arrange and sustain their supply.
“The arrogance of some administrators is pushing resident doctors to the wall and forcing them to go for strike and shutdown of essential services,” he said.
“Such officials remain stationed in administrative blocks which are usually 110 meters away from Covid-19 wards and to cover-up their administrative failures they are trying hard to muzzle the voice of frontline resident doctors,” Dr Dar said.
DAK has appealed Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education Department to reinstate the doctor at an earliest as “the derogatory move has shaken the confidence of whole doctor fraternity that too at the critical juncture of the pandemic.”
