Bhubaneswar: Amid the full-fledged Covid-19 vaccination of healthcare professionals and frontline workers in Odisha, doctors practicing under Homeopathy and Ayurveda medical systems in the State have accused the State government of showing step-motherly treatment towards them in the ongoing vaccination drive.
Hundreds of AYUSH doctors in Khordha, Puri and Nayagarh district have alleged that even though the first phase vaccination drive is about to end in a few days time, they are yet to get vaccine shots.
According to sources, a comprehensive list of the frontline AYUSH healthcare professionals was sent to the government on October 19, 2020, for consideration of Covid vaccination on a priority basis like the Allopathy medical professionals. However, the government has reportedly not responded to the request made by the doctors.
According to reports, as many as 105 doctors and healthcare professionals engaged at 62 Homeopathy medicals and 129 practitioners attached with 62 Ayurvedic dispensaries are awaiting vaccination.
Meanwhile, the Health Department is yet to comment on the development.
"We submitted a list of beneficiaries to Khordha and Puri CDMO, but no message has been sent to us. No one of us has been vaccinated yet. We had worked hard from contact tracing to surveillance but the negligence by the government has disappointed us," said Amarendra Nath Mohapatra, a Homeopathy doctor.
Noted Ayurveda doctor Renuprabha Mohapatra said that the neglect towards the AYUSH medical professionals has hurt them like never before.