On Monday, an ophthalmologist in a private healthcare institution found it difficult to enter his own home in a residential apartment complex in the city. The president of the residents’ association had allegedly given instructions at the gate that the doctor or anyone who goes out for work had to present a certificate that they did not have COVID-19.
The doctor somehow managed to enter his house by sending the association president a government order that permits healthcare professionals to work during the lockdown period.
However, residential association office-bearers told The Hindu that there had been no issues regarding the entry of anyone into the apartment except those from outside. They were following the police’s instructions in this regard, said the association president.
Two nurses were also harassed for coming home from work while in another incident, a doctor staying in a rented apartment was asked to vacate the house by the residents’ association.
Such incidents made the District Collector come out with a special order on Wednesday with regard to the safety, security and welfare of healthcare professionals.
The order says that any individual, establishment, landlord, residents’ associations or society in general found to discriminate healthcare workers and professionals will be punished under the Indian Epidemics Act 1897.
He said such behaviour towards healthcare workers was condemnable.
Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan, president of Indian Medical Association, Kochi, told The Hindu that such acts demoralised doctors, nurses and other workers who had been relentlessly working to check the spread of COVID-19.
