By Twocircles.net Staff Reporter
New Delhi: For the 40-45 people who gathered near Rajghat, the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi, it was a day to protest and raise slogans. Holding placards, shouting “Arvind Kejriwal Jawab Do!!!” was one way for the kin, colleagues and friends of Dr Dinesh Singh, who died exactly a year ago, to show their anger against the Delhi government’s apathy.
Dr Singh, who belonged to a Dalit family, had been a resident (anaesthesia) at Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya, and it was while working here that he was admitted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on February 8. On February 9, he tested positive for H1N1 influenza in a report from Dr Lal Path Labs. After battling for life for three weeks, he breathed his last on March 3, leaving behind his wife and two young daughters. .The family, at that time, had demanded compensation, saying that he contracted the deadly disease while working as a Doctor, saving lives, in a government hospital.
They also demanded a government job for his wife, so that the family does not fall on hard times.
But nothing has happened since, and this was the reason behind today’s protests.
Dr Singh’s brother, who is a dentist, said they had tried all possible methods to reach the government and the Chief Minister. “We have put three letters to various ministries, we have even visited the ‘Jan Sunvai’ to present our grievances to the CM but nothing has happened,” he said. After Dr Singh’s death, initially, a couple of newspapers wrote about this, but in the den of swine flu deaths, this case was soon forgotten, and so were the sacrifices of Dr Singh. Even today, there was almost zero media coverage.
For Bhoop Amar Singh, the father of Dr Dinesh, the past year has been harrowing to say the least. “My son was employed by the government. He contracted a communicable disease while working, and died. Are we asking for too much? Let alone compensation, the government initially denied that he even died because of swine flu. No one from the government has even visited us and listened to our demands,” he said.
The government sought relief in the fact the death certificate issued by Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said that the immediate cause of death was acute respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis, acute kidney injury and shock, the antecedent cause was bilateral pneumonia/viral (H1N1 +ve) and the underlying cause was diabetes mellitus.
Even today, the protesters wanted to march from Rajghat to Delhi Secretariat, but where stopped within the first hundred metres. Bhoop Singh, Mujeeb ur Rehman, convener, Bharatiya Krantikari Jan Sangharsh Samiti andabout four members of Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) and Anusuchit Jati Morcha were taken in a police van to submit their demands at the Delhi Secretariat.
However, having found no appropriate official to speak to and present their memorandum, they returned empty handed.
“We are not begging. We are demanding three things: that the Delhi government should bear all treatment expenditure for any communicable disease occurred to any medico/para-medico irrespective of whether the treatment is in a public or a private hospital,” Bhoop Singh said.
“We demand that we should be reimbursed of Rs 20 lakh that they spent in the treatment of my son. We also demand that his widow be given a government job. While our protests today is for Dr Singh, we want to add that we want social security for every Doctor/paramedic who works for Delhi government, especially during epidemics like swine flu,” Dr Avinash Singh added.
The protesters decided to meet on Saturday, March 5 to plan for more protests when the Budget session of the Delhi Assembly begins on March 22.
Until then, however, the family seems to have little else but hope; that one day justice will be delivered.