Doctors Harassed And Evicted From Their Homes In India As Fear Spreads Amid Coronavirus Lockdown
As the global coronavirus pandemic worsens and death toll increases by the day, fear is increasing in India and frontline medical workers are bearing the brunt of public panic.
India has reported 562 cases of the novel coronavirus and 10 death cases so far, a relatively low number given the country’s size and density.
But there are signs of rising anxiety amid a dramatic nationwide lockdown, with residents panic buying and targeting harassment at doctors and other frontline workers.
Medical staff in the national capital, New Delhi has said they have been ostracized and discriminated against by their communities due to fears that “they may be infected after working with coronavirus patients.”
Some doctors have even reported being evicted, or facing threats that their electricity will be cut off.
Doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers involved in Covid-19 care are being asked to vacate their rented homes. And some have been even forcefully evicted from their temporary residence by landlords due to the fear that those healthcare professionals make them susceptible to coronavirus infection.
This was shared in a letter from the Resident Doctors’ Association of New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences, sent on March 24 to Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
In the letter, the association urged Shah to take action to protect the embattled medical workers, stating that;
Many doctors are now stranded on the roads with all their luggage, nowhere to go, across the country.
The reports of forced evictions were met with anger from some citizens online, as well as from local and health officials.
Harsh Vardhan, the union minister for health and family welfare, on March 24 tweeted that he was “deeply anguished” to hear of doctors being ostracized.
He advised the public to stay calm, adding that;
All precautions are being taken by doctors and staff on Covid-19 duty to ensure they’re not carriers of infection in any way. Any harsh steps will demoralize them, derail the system … It’s our bounden duty to keep their morale high.
Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal also condemned the alleged evictions, stating that;
These doctors are saving our lives, putting their lives at risk. Their landlords should not do this. This is wrong.
Adarsh Pratap Singh, President of the Resident Doctors’ Association expressed that Minister Shah has since instructed police officials to investigate the issue and take immediate action.
The Delhi police commissioner also reached out to the association to offer assistance.
Shah later tweeted in support of the medical workers, and thanked them for risking their lives in the fight against the pandemic.
Airline workers have also been harassed, as some airline employees are also facing a backlash, especially those who were on repatriation flights to bring back stranded Indian citizens in virus-hit nations like China.
One video that has been widely circulated appears to show an employee of the airline IndiGo, describing how false rumors that she was infected have led to community members harassing her mother and do business with her.
Employees from the national carrier Air India have also faced similar harassment in their communities, said a news release from the airline on Sunday.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted in support of the airline staff who have been targeted, and said he was “deeply distressed” to hear about the discrimination.
The harassment toward both airline staff and medical workers highlight widespread, heightened fear — and also the clash between public opinion and official government rhetoric.
As India experiences spike in cases, the government has on March 25 imposed a three-week lockdown.
This bans more than 1.3 billion people in all states and territories from leaving their homes except for essential purposes.
All shops, factories, markets and places of worship will be closed and interstate buses and metros will be suspended.
