Nashik administration warns private doctors they could face prosecution

Doctors’ Association had said its members would not treat COVID-19 cases due to mental and physical fatigue

A day after the Doctors’ Association in Nashik said its members would not treat COVID-19 cases citing “public pressure” and “mental and physical fatigue”, District Collector Suraj Mandhare on Wednesday sternly warned that the administration could prosecute doctors, should they take any unconstitutional step. Around 200 private doctors in the Doctors’ Association had written to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray stating that on account of mounting public pressure, they could not cope with responsibility for treating COVID-19 patients any more, and asked to be allowed to attend to non-COVID-19 patients instead. The Association, in its letter, had said that as cases were steadily coming down in Nashik, government medical facilities were more than capable of handling the reduced case load, and that they were willing to offer their services in the event of a resurgence of the pandemic.