Coronavirus: Doctor slapped with transfer for demanding masks, sanitizers in Jammu and Kashmir

A medico in Jammu and Kashmir was transferred for demanding adequate protective measures like masks and sanitiser for the medical staff working in hospitals amid COVID-19 scare.

On Thursday Dr Balwinder Singh had appealed the government to arrange proper masks and hand sanitisers for those working in the government hospitals of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in view of the rising threat of coronavirus.

“Most of the hospitals are not providing masks and hand sanitisers to doctors. If the doctors get infected while treating patients, the infection can be then spread to other patients too,” Dr Singh, President, Doctors Association Jammu had said in a statement.

Just two days later, he was transferred to a remote hospital in Batote area of Jammu. Doctors in the UT Sunday threatened protest if the transfer was not revoked. They also demanded masks, gloves and sanitisers for those working in hospitals.

“It is doctors and other healthcare providers who are at the forefront in dealing with the coronavirus threat. They can save the patients only when they are first themselves protected from the same,” Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) president Dr Suhail Naik said in a statement.

He advised the government to focus on screening of travelers at airports and railway stations than “political transfers” of medicos.