Assam: With 62 docs on nCoV duty asked to vacate hostel, all eyes on Govt to resolve issue

Dibrugarh: Tensions have started simmering in Upper Assam's Dibrugarh after sixty-one postgraduate doctors who were engaged in fighting the novel coronavirus were asked to leave the hostels of the Assam Medical College (AMC) where they were discharging duty.

AMC Principal and Chief Superintendent Dr. Hiranya Kumar Goswami on October 22 issued a notice asking the doctors to leave the hostels by the first week of November. The resumption of classes for the undergraduate students was cited as the reason.

According to a top source, the hostels given as accommodation to the post-graduate doctors called for COVID-19 duty as they were empty at the time. However, with the classes about to resume soon, the doctors were asked to find accomodation outside the classes.

Needless to say, the doctors are aghast at this latest development. Some of the concerned doctors recently dashed off a letter to the principal urging him to reconsider the move.

They contended that quarters to accommodate such a large number of doctors "is not readily available in the vicinity of the college." he doctors have also pointed out that they have not been paid salaries for the months of August, September, and November.

This episode has elicited strong response across Assam, with the citizenry beginning to question why doctors engaged in the noble task of treating nCoV patients are being subjected to such such undue hardships.

How the controversy began:

This development came to the fore after one of the doctors deprived of salary and asked to vacate the hostel took his frustration to Twitter. Taking to Twitter, the doctor named Pratyush Mahanta said that he had not been paid his salary for 89 days. Posting a picture of the notice to vacate hostels, the doctor wrote, “Days without salary =89. Now a notice to vacate our hostels.”

He also tagged Assam's Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in his post that went viral on social media. Now, with the state's citizenry waiting with bated breath to see how this tricky situation is resolved, the ball is firmly in the Government's court.

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