From Bengaluru To Indore: Six Times Frontline Corona Warriors Faced Attack In India

Attacks on the medical professionals, stone-pelting at health workers, misbehaving with lady doctor and nurses - all of this happening amid an unprecedented health crisis, has provoked serious concerns.

Moradabad: A team of medical personnel and police along with the family members of a person who died of COVID-19 sit inside a vandalised ambulance after a mob attacked their vehicle with stones, in Moradabad, Wednesday, April 15, 2020. (PTI Photo)

New Delhi: Doctors, nurses, medical staff, police and many other essential service providers who are working despite the risk of Coronavirus pandemic have been honored as 'Corona Warriors' by Prime Minister Modi. However, in the past few weeks, many cases have been reported in the nation where these frontline fighters against the Coronavirus were ruthlessly assaulted. Attacks on the medical professionals, stones pelted at cops, misbehaving with a lady doctor and nurses, all of this have provoked concern. Here's a list of some 'shameful' incidents where these 'Corona Warriors' were brutally attacked:

• Indore attack on medical professionals: In Madhya Pradesh healthcare workers and civic officials were attacked by a mob of angry locals in Indore. The medical team visited the area to screen residents for signs of novel Coronavirus infection. Two women doctors were injured in the attack and had to be rescued by police. The shocking attack came two days after locals from the Ranipura area of the city allegedly spat at officials and abused them during screening procedures. In a shocking video of the attack, two healthcare workers dressed in light blue PPE (personal protective equipment) suits can be seen running from a small group of locals who are throwing stones and what appears to be a large piece of plastic at them.

Watch: Man accused of attacking doctors in Indore arrested

• Harassment of female doc in Surat: In another incident, Dr. Sanjibani Panigrahi is one such unfortunate medical professional who was inordinately harassed for being a doctor and working with COVID-19 positive patients. Dr. Sanjibani, a 34-year-old doctor who works at the government-run civil hospital in Surat in Gujarat, was first ridiculed as a carrier of corona positive by her insensitive apartment members. When she did not pay any heed to it, she was obstructed to enter her own house. The doctor although bravely carried on with her work, she was assaulted by a man. She later approached the police, filed a complain and is seeking protection from her neighbors who want her to leave the society.

• Midwife manhandled in Bareilly: A similar incident took place where a team of Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) was allegedly manhandled by villagers in Bareilly when they went to verify if any outsider had taken shelter there or any Coronavirus suspect was staying in the locality.

• Moradabad stone-pelting incident on medicos: A team of doctors and medical staff was assaulted by a mob in Moradabad's Nawabganj area when they went to take away two suspected cases of the novel Coronavirus in the area. The mob pelted stones at the ambulance and doctors. The stones were also pelted on the police van which came to rescue the health workers. Watch below:

• ASHA workers assaulted in Bengaluru: In another episode, a group of Asha workers (Accredited Social Health Activist) was allegedly assaulted in Bengaluru in Sadiq layout area where they were deputed to collect data on people who have Coronavirus symptoms. The Asha workers have been deployed by the Karnataka government to conduct a door-to-door survey in localities and collect data on people having cough, cold and fever symptoms. Asha workers are a scaffold between the community and the public healthcare system in India and since mid-March, they have been conducting surveys to gather information about those who are likely to be affected by COVID-19 in the state.

• Bengaluru scuffle between residents & civic officials: In the most recent incident, Health officials who had come to shift coronavirus suspects to a quarantine facility were manhandled in Bengaluru last evening. The team was attacked by a large mob of about 200 locals when the officials reached a neighborhood to take 58 people who were believed to have come in contact with three Coronavirus patients. They were forced to retreat leaving behind the 33 locals who had to be taken to the isolation units. A case will be registered and action will be taken against those involved, the DCP said.