Government doctors, nurses and other health workers on Monday wore black badges to work to protest against Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi for the “denigration” of a senior doctor during a surprise inspection of the Directorate of Health on Saturday.
In a memorandum submitted to Director of Health, the Puducherry Government Medical Officers Association (PGMAO) on Monday said the intimidating manner of handling a very senior officer of the health department in front of subordinates and staff of other departments and putting out a video was a slur on the entire medical fraternity.
K. Sriram, PGMOA president, and G. Anbusenthil, general secretary, said since February, the entire department was working in full swing, which was appreciated by the general public, political leaders and other department officials.
“We are working on all days including Sundays and public holidays even at late hours and the untiring work was insulted by the LG,” the memorandum said.
In such an uncertain and unprecedented situation, her empathy would have been more welcome rather than authoritative behaviour, they said.
The medical officers are presented with multiple supervisory hierarchies in which they are forced to work in a constant state of fear, which adversely affects their performance. Further, the field staff are forced to duplicate their work in soft copies, the memorandum said.
“For the benefit of the public of Puducherry, we have decided to work in the same manner as before as we understand the nature of the disease better.
“The cases are bound to increase and we are working towards addressing it and preventing it to our best ability,” it added.
Meanwhile, about 40 health staff have exited from a WhatsApp group created by Ms. Bedi in protest.
The ‘United Services Group’ comprised bureaucrats, nodal officers, police and health personnel and was intended as a forum for Ms. Bedi to quickly disseminate instructions.
