The Indian Medical Association on Wednesday, 16 September, criticised the statement made by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in the parliament, and called it out for neglecting doctors who died in the line of duty.

According to an NDTV report, while the parliamentary statement acknowledged the contribution of healthcare workers, it claimed that the Centre has no statistical data on healthcare workers who died during the pandemic.

The statement has received much flak from the IMA. The top medical body accused the government of "indifference," "abdication," and "abandonment of heroes."

Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey's statement in the parliament said that the central government does not have any compensation data as public health and hospitals come under the states.

Responding to it, the IMA said "This amounts to abdication of duty and abandonment of the national heroes who have stood up for our people. IMA finds it strange that after having formulated an unfriendly partial insurance scheme for the bereaved families to struggle with the ignominy of the Government disowning them altogether stares at them."

Such a response towards healthcare workers indicates the "hypocrisy of calling them corona warriors on one hand and denying them and their families the status and benefits of martyrdom," the IMA stated.

"It appears that they are dispensable. No nation has lost as many doctors and health care workers like India," it said, adding that, "Doctors suffered four times mortality of ordinary citizens, and private practitioners suffered eight times mortality on the same scale. To feign that this information does not merit the attention of the nation is abominable.”

(With inputs from NDTV and IANS)