Government doctors will strike work in all hospitals in the district on Monday in protest against the transfer orders slapped on six doctors in the Health Service for not ‘exercising sufficient diligence when conducting the physical examination’ on Satnam Singh, who was reportedly killed at the Mental Health Centre (MHC) here recently.
Kerala Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA) office-bearers said at a press conference here on Sunday that the government should immediately revoke the transfer orders.
Distributing copies of the post-mortem report, they said the report clearly stated that out of the 77 physical injuries found on the body, only two minor wounds on the feet and ankle had been marked as injuries which happened 24 hours before the death.
It meant that most of the major injuries occurred after he was brought to the MHC, after he had been physically examined by all doctors concerned. The government had issued transfer orders for not conducting physical examination properly and [not] taking note of the injuries on his body when there were actually none, the office-bearers said.
Unfair
The government had been extremely unfair to the doctors by punishing them for perceived negligence.
The government had been quick to hand out punishment to doctors while the Superintendent of the MHC, where Satnam Singh had been ‘brutally tortured to death,’ had been absolved of all responsibility in the entire affair, they said.
The Health Department needed some scapegoats, especially with the National Human Rights Commission getting involved.
Unreasonable
But it was unreasonable that doctors should be implicated directly in the death of Satnam Singh and portrayed as murderers before society, they said.
‘Doctors scapegoats in Satnam Singh’s death’ Demand to revoke transfer orders
