Following complaints that landlords and owners are asking doctors and paramedical staff to vacate their houses, the government has directed all district, city, and police authorities to initiate strict action against such people under relevant provisions of the law.
In a Government Order issued on Thursday, officials have also been asked to submit action-taken report daily to the office of the Additional Chief Secretary in the Home Department.
Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education) Jawaid Akhtar said in the order, “We have received a lot of complaints from doctors, paramedical staff, and other health workers. The behaviour of landlords and house owners amounts to obstructing public servants in discharging duties. In this context, the government of Karnataka has issued the Karnataka Epidemic Disease (COVID-19) Regulations, 2020 under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and Hyderabad Infectious Disease Act, 1950 for prevention and containment of COVID-19.”
Doctors upset
Meanwhile, doctors and healthcare professionals are irked that although they are braving all odds to attend to patients during this crisis, people are treating them with disregard.
C.N. Manjunath, director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, who is also part of the State government’s COVID-19 task force, said some 20 technicians and paramedical staff, including nurses from Jayadeva, who are staying in paying guest accommodation and individual rented pemises, had complained to him that their landlords had asked them to vacate the houses.
A senior government doctor said, “We do not want applause. All that we want is that people should treat us with humanity. If house owners do not want us to continue staying in their properties, we can also say that they should not turn up in hospitals for treatment.”
Expressing displeasure over the attitude by some landlords and house owners, U.S. Vishal Rao, chief of Head Neck Surgical Oncology and Robotic Surgery at Healthcare Global Cancer Centre, said the medical fraternity is going out on one limb to serve society. “In this hour of need, we need support from society. We have distanced ourselves from our family so we can risk our lives. We need understanding of society. Society should stand behind us,” he said.
