A team of health workers, including Dr Zakiya Sayed, was back on its job to screen people for the coronavirus disease in Madhya Pradesh’ Indore city after being attacked by residents.
“We had been working on the screening of contacts for the last four days. But what we saw yesterday, we had not seen it earlier. We sustained injuries but we have to do our job and will not be scared,” Dr Zakiya Sayed said, according to news agency ANI.
Dr Zakiya Sayed was a part of the team of healthcare workers who were pelted with stones by local residents on Wednesday. She was one of the woman doctors who reportedly sustained injuries in the incident.
“We have been visiting the locality for the past three days for the screening of residents. We had information about a person coming in contact with a Covid-19 patient…We were talking to the person (the elderly woman) when, all of a sudden, residents got agitated and attacked us,” one of the doctors had said after the attack on Wednesday.
Seven people were arrested on Thursday for the attack on the team as several such incidents were reported from different parts of the country. The Centre has asked the state police to ensure the security of health workers after these attacks.
“Violent attacks being committed against doctors and paramedical staff providing healthcare by risking their lives is condemned and anyone resorting to violence against them will be liable to strict legal action,” Union minister of state for home affairs G Kishan Reddy said.
Reddy also directed “all DGPs to take immediate action against culprits”.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has assured healthcare workers their safety is his government’s responsibility.
Chouhan said those involved in pelting stones at medical staff in Indore will be given strict punishment and that the accused will be booked under the National Security Act (NSA).
Fourteen new Covid-19 cases were reported in Indore on Thursday, taking the number of cases to 89 in the city.
