Two senior govt doctors in Indore allege misbehaviour by bureaucrats: one resigns, other threatens to quit, goes on leave

The city, with 12,017 active cases, has the highest Covid-19 case load in Madhya Pradesh, and its health infrastructure is creaking with a surge in the second wave of the pandemic.

A senior government doctor resigned from her post and another threatened to quit, alleging misbehaviour by the district administration.

The city, with 12,017 active cases, has the highest Covid-19 case load in Madhya Pradesh, and its health infrastructure is creaking with a surge in the second wave of the pandemic.

The two doctors are District Health Officer Dr Purnima Gadaria and Medical Officer R S Tomar of the Community Health Centre in Indore’s Manpur town.

After sending her resignation to Health Commissioner Akash Tripathi, Gadaria, who earlier held additional charge as the Chief Medical and Health Officer of Indore, alleged that District Collector Manish Singh misbehaved in public.

“It does not go down well when you are shouted at publicly, and causes mental stress — especially when you are putting in a lot of hard work. I am a health officer and I have done my work with all earnestness,” Gadaria said.

“The way he publicly scolds — aap nithalle hai, nikamme hai aur free ki tankha le rahe hai — you can’t say all this…it is unacceptable. His meetings are not two-way but one-way communication,” she claimed.

Repeated calls and text messages to District Collector Manish Singh were not answered. Health Commissioner Akash Tripathi said he had not accepted Gadaria’s resignation.

The employees of Women and Child Welfare Department have also separately petitioned the Chief Minister, stating that they would not be able to work with Manish Singh since he resorts to indecent language and allegedly misuses his position. In the petition, they threatened to stop coming to work from Friday if the government did not take action against him.

Addressing the media in Indore on Thursday, Gadaria said, “We have just one demand: until Collector Indore, Manish Singh, is not removed, none of us will resume work. Every day someone or the other has to get embarrassed with his comments, but it’s intolerable and we have stood up against him.”

While Dr Madhav Hasani, vice-president of Madhya Pradesh Medical Officers’ Association, clarified that around 4,000 staff, including doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff, are not going on strike, he said much like Dr Gadaria, they would submit mass resignations.

Asked whether their decision will affect patients, he said, “They will be affected, but we are not doing this for some unfulfilled announcements. It is about our esteem, and if there is one person who is time and again offending people and changing him will improve situation, then the government though think about it.”

Tomar, on his part, blamed Sub-Divisional Magistrate Abhilash Sharma. He complained to the city’s Chief Medical Health Officer that SDM Mishra used indecent language. “I take insulin injections four times a day and despite angioplasty I do my job with all earnestness. But today, things have gone beyond my mental and physical tolerance level and I cannot offer my services anymore.”

Asked about Tomar’s resignation, Chief Medical Officer of Indore, Buresingh Sethiya, said, “It is not a resignation but a complaint. We will discuss it with the department. For now, the doctor concerned has proceeded on leave.”

SDM Abhilash Mishra did not respond to calls and text messages.

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