Black badges, candlelight vigil to protest doc’s suicide
IMA letter to CM blames ‘babu mentality’ for tragic incident
BENGALURU:
In the aftermath of a Mysuru government doctor committing suicide, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has, in a letter to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Saturday, blamed the target-oriented approach of government officials for the tragic incident. The letter says, “What happened to Dr SR Nagendra, Taluk Government Medical Officer of Nanjangud, Mysuru, is unfortunate. He committed suicide allegedly due to the target-oriented approach of officials. There are reasons to believe that the administration ignored the stressful situation under which he was working. A senior medical person would have understood the nuances and perhaps handled the situation with diligence and understanding.”
Affirming that doctors in Karnataka will stage a two-day black badge protest over the incident, the IMA letter said such incidents of official insensitivity towards the needs of medical staff were being seen across the country. “In general, there has been a retreat of democratic institutions and unbridled exercise of power without restraint. The medical profession does not work on targets and deadlines. These are typical office procedures,” the letter said.
The letter noted that doctors in Karnataka were extremely disturbed over the incident. It said that owing to Covid constraints, it had limited the protest to black badges and a candlelight vigil.
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