An order, issued by the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Lucknow, directing the appointment of four medical workers at the residence of Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh, has been quietly withdrawn.
The order, issued on March 29, said that four health workers were to be on duty all days, including holidays, to thermally scan all visitors at Singh’s house at Gautampalli colony.
The four health workers, two pharmacists and two medical workers, had been divided into two batches and assigned in two shifts-- from 8 am to 3 pm and then from 3 pm to 10 pm.
Their work included ‘thermal scanning and charting’ of all visitors and sending an everyday report to the Control Room at the CMO office. The order had also noted that each team would hand over the thermal scanners in person to the next team.
One of the appointees for the above job told THE WEEK, “We were shocked to receive the order as social interaction has been put on hold because of the pandemic. Visitors are not being allowed to meet political figures. I was not even sure if we would be given any protective gear for the job”.
This employee had received the order on March 29, but on the evening of the next day he was told that the duty was being cancelled.
“I received a call from the PRO of Mr Singh saying that I would not be required to report to work and that I should keep doing my duty as a pharmacist at the Community Health Centre,” he said.
He, however, is not sure whether the other three had reported to duty at Singh’s residence on the one day when the order was in force.
This is not the first time a controversial order in reference to the medical community in the state has been withdrawn since the lockdown.
On March 27, an order was issued by the Chief Medical Superintendent, Gandhi Memorial and Allied Hospitals, directing a deduction of one day’s salary from all medical and on-medical staff. The money thus collected was to be used to purchase surgical face masks. The order was withdrawn after a furore by the staff.