The Supreme Court on Friday (June 12) expressed its serious concern over reports that doctors and other medical staff were not being paid salaries and given separate stay facilities in Delhi, Hyderabad, and other places, saying "you can't have dissatisfied soldiers at the time of war".
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M R Shah said and asked the Union government to "do more and go the extra mile to protect Corona warriors".
"It is kind of a war. You do not keep soldiers unhappy during the war," the bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
The court was hearing a plea by a doctor, Arushi Jain, who sought a direction to the Centre to ensure separate accommodation, among others, for doctors, medical staff, on COVID-19 frontline.
"When they go home, they expose their families to greater risk. The panacea is worse than the disease," senior advocate K V Vishwanathan, appearing for Jain, said.
He sought a specific direction to the government so that the family members of doctors were not put in danger. He contended that the criteria for quarantine issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare were not enough and exposed the doctors and their families to greater risk.
Vishwanathan also pointed out that government doctors were subjected to wage deductions and private doctors were not being given proper salaries.
"The kind of violence they are going through is the additional menace," he said.
The court asked Mehta to address these concerns. Mehta, for his part, said, "We already have five-star hotels being used for accommodations for doctors treating Covid-19 patients."
The bench asked Vishwanathan to give his suggestions to Mehta and put the matter for consideration next week.