Bihar doctors requested to donate more to help doctors dying of Covid-19

At Least 121 doctors in Bihar, including 39 in the first wave last year and 82 in the second one this year, have died till Monday, May 16, due to Covid-19.

Doctors in Bihar have been requested to donate generously to help families of doctors dying due to Covid-19, following a moderate collection of ₹11 lakh from the state. The Covid Martyrs Fund set up by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has collected ₹1.94 crore till May 13 and disbursed almost half of it-- ₹80,00,000 to the families of eight doctors, including one from Bihar.

Only a dozen odd doctors out of the 10,000 registered IMA members in Bihar had contributed to the Covid-19 martyrs corpus so far.

“Making a donation is the ultimate sign of solidarity. Actions speak louder than words. Please donate generously to IMA Covid Martyrs Fund,” IMA’s Bihar chapter appealed on May 13.

Gujarat, with ₹45.95 lakh and Delhi with ₹35.34 lakh, are the two top donors followed by Maharashtra- ₹30.07 lakh, Kerala- ₹19.29 lakh, Haryana- ₹18.20 lakh and Uttar Pradesh- ₹16.47 lakh that have contributed more than Bihar. Many states including Telangana- ₹2.54 lakh, Punjab- ₹1.01 lakh, Uttarakhand- ₹5,000 and West Bengal- ₹500 have made even smaller contributions, shows IMA data, available till May 13.

IMA president-elect Dr Sahajanand Prasad Singh accepted that mobilising funds had not been easy.

“We are trying to persuade our doctors to contribute generously,” he said.

“Given the paucity of funds, the IMA shortlists beneficiaries based on the recommendation of its respective state unit. Families of two more doctors from Bihar are in the queue to receive the compensation of Rs10,00,000 each,” he said.

The senior vice-president of IMA’s Bihar chapter Dr Ajay Kumar said only a dozen odd doctors out of the 10,000 registered IMA members in Bihar had contributed to the corpus so far.

“Dr Devi Ram, a physician in Purnia, has contributed ₹5 lakh, the highest from Bihar so far,” he said.

Dr Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, former president of IMA-Bihar, suggested IMA's "questionable" credibility could be the reason for the lukewarm response.

"IMA is a social organisation of doctors that has been hijacked by a group of people who do not have mass appeal. This is the reason their appeal has either no meaning or less bearing on its members," said Dr Prasad.

However, former president of the state IMA, Dr Sachchidanand Kumar, held a different view. "Doctors are farsighted and even willing to spend money when it comes to furtherment of their personal gains. However, they have a myopic vision when it comes to contributing to the cause of someone else," he said.

At Least 121 doctors in Bihar, including 39 in the first wave last year and 82 in the second one this year, have died till Monday, May 16, due to Covid-19, said Dr Kumar. Only four of these have got compensation from the state government so far, amplifying the problem, he adds.

He also rued the fact that the Centre was not considering ex-gratia for private sector doctors. “Of the 121 doctors who have died so far, around 70 are from the private sector,” said Dr Kumar.

The Center has given ₹50 lakh insurance cover to doctors fighting Covid-19, while the state promised an ex-gratia of ₹4 lakh to Covid victims.