COVID-19 | Doctors denied houses on rent in Warangal due to virus scare

Many refuse to give houses on rent or ask them to vacate, fearing spread of coronavirus

Some insensitive people are showing the temerity to lable the doctors’ work as ‘dirty’.

At a time when the whole world is lauding the efforts of doctors, some paranoid residents in the city are refusing to give houses on rent to people in the medical profession, fearing the spread of coronavirus.

Scores of house surgeons of a new batch who joined duties on Monday and Tuesday and their seniors, who were located around the MGM Hospital, are facing severe problems due to non-availability of accommodation.

When the issue was brought to the notice of Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao and district Collector Rajiv Gandhi Hanmanthu, they said the Kakatiya Medical College (KMC) authorities have allocated a new building to both senior and junior house surgeons. “Even the hostel rooms have been converted into quarantine wards and hence the problem. But it is now addressed,” the Collector said.

Most of these interns who hail from various parts of the State stay in rented houses near the hospital in the surroundings of Bhadrakali temple opposite KMC, Pochamma Maidan and Gopala Swamy temple until they complete their one-year internship in the MGM hospital. In the wake of coronavirus pandemic, the house owners are reportedly asking them to vacate their houses. A house surgeon working in MGM hospital has shared their woes on Facebook. The post is now going viral on social networking sites. The post said that one of the owners called the doctors ‘dirty’ because of work in the hospital. “Our campus hostel rooms are converted into isolation wards by the State government. We are working without any protective equipment during this pandemic, without any holiday, without any stipend since five months while the nation is in lockdown,” the post read.

On condition of anonymity, one of the house surgeons facing this situation described certain house owners as insensitive. “They do not understand the risks we undergo to keep them healthy. It is really demoralising,” he said.

Meanwhile, GWMC Commissioner Pamela Satpathy responded to the viral post on twitter and said “Few similar posts have come to our notice. The issue of accommodation has been resolved already. All Doctors/Medical Fraternity facing any such issue, are kindly requested to contact KMC Principal. Or you can also contact @Collector_WGLU, @MC_GWMC, or DMHO. At your disposal always.”