Odisha: Doctors demand priority vaccine for family members

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Medical Services Association (OMSA) on Friday urged the state government to give vaccines to family members of healthcare providers, including doctors, on a priority basis.
In a letter to Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, additional chief secretary (health), OMSA has expressed unhappiness for not adding family members of healthcare workers in the priority vaccination programme.
“Doctors and healthcare providers have been fighting this Covid-19 pandemic for a year and a half. Their family members are also getting exposed to the virus. Some family members of healthcare workers have died of Covid-19 as well. But the family members are yet to be considered for vaccination on priority basis,” said Narayana Rout, president of OMSA.
He said family members of doctors and other healthcare workers are living in a state of fear as their kin have been treating Covid patients. “To boost their morale and protect them, the government should vaccinate the family members on a priority basis,” Rout added.
The association members said the government has allowed priority vaccination for people of some professions. “The healthcare providers, including doctors, are dissatisfied with this discrimination to frontline Covid workers,” the association letter read.
The resident doctors’ association, Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (Vimsar), Burla, has also requested the government to vaccinate family members of healthcare workers. In a memorandum to chief minister Naveen Patnaik, the resident doctors have requested him to allocate special session for first degree relatives of healthcare workers to boost their moral and spirit.
“Healthcare workers are exhausted fighting against Covid-19. Their family members are significantly at higher risk to Covid infection than general people,” said the resident doctors’ association in the memorandum.