IMA writes to PM for aid to kin of 15 deceased infected docs

DHANBAD: Rattled by the apathetic attitude of the state government, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Sunday shot off a letter to Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, demanding compensation to family members of 15 doctors of the state who died of Covid-19.

IMA state president Dr AK Singh on Sunday said for encouragement to medicos involved in the Covid-19 control campaign, the IMA demanded the PM to provide the deceased doctors a ‘martyr status’ and announce compensation for their families.

As per IMA records, 15 doctors in Jharkhand, including government and private, have died after getting infected while treating Covid-19 patients in six districtsBokaro (5), Jamshedpur (3), Dhanbad (3), Ranchi (2), Hazaribag (1) and Dumka (1).

The IMA has sent names of all the 15 doctors and their working places to the PM.

“Doctors, who are involved in Covid campaign, are discouraged, as other states pay compensation to family members of the deceased medicos within a week, but the Jharkhand government is yet to pay any of them despite repeated requests. So, the IMA has requested the PM to give martyr status to them, as they died while serving patients, and pay compensation to their family members”, said Dr Singh.

IMA Ranchi joint secretary Dr Ajit Kumar rued that Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal pays compensation to family of deceased doctors within 24 hours of their death, but in Jharkhand not a single penny has been paid to their dependents even after 60 days.

Earlier, when deaths of infected doctors increased in Jharkhand, a joint delegation of IMA state and Ranchi chapters under state secretary Dr Pradeep Kumar Singh had met chief minister Hemant Soren on September 4 and requested him for immediate compensation payment to their families, so that morale of medicos is increased. Though the chief minister had assured the delegation to consider the issue seriously, no step has been initiated in this regard till date.