Kanpur: The superintendents of 14 health centres in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday offered to step down from their posts because of alleged harassment and ill-treatment by senior administration officials. This came a day after the district administration removed the officials in charge of the Fatehpur Chaurasi and Asoha primary health centres. The district administration denied the allegation and claimed that the two superintendents had been transferred as per policy.

To resolve the dispute, District Magistrate (DM) Ravindra Kumar will chair a meeting with all the 14 health centre officials in his office on Thursday. “We are forced to take this step because despite working round-the-clock since last year, we are regularly being harassed and also threatened to be sent to jail by administrative officials. They scold us by making a false allegation that we are not working responsibly,” said Dr Sanjeev Kumar, the district general secretary of the Provincial Medical Services’ Association. He is also the superintendent of the Ganj Moradabad health centre and among the 14 who have offered to resign. Of the 14, four are superintendents of community health centres, while 10 are in charge of primary health centres.

Dr Kumar claimed that the superintendents of Asoha and Fatehpur Chaurasi centres had been removed without being given a chance to defend themselves. “The superintendents of both the health centres were doing their job with sincerity. The superintendent of Fatehpur Chaurasi, Dr Prem Chand, is Covid-positive. The administration took the action without seeking an explanation and response from them,” Dr Kumar claimed, adding that these issues would be raised at the meeting with the DM.

Unnao’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Ashutosh Kumar told The Indian Express that he did not know that the superintendents were angry with the district administration. “Before making such a move, they should have shared their problem with me. I came to know about the matter in the evening today when I returned to my office. I spoke about it with the district magistrate and he has called a meeting tomorrow. We hope the matter will be resolved soon,” he said. The CMO claimed that everyone’s work gets monitored at several levels, sometimes strictly, but no one misbehaves with anyone. “The two in-charges of the health centres were removed as per transfer policy. The action was taken as per performance,” he added.

If You Like This Story, Support NYOOOZ

NYOOOZ SUPPORTER

₹ 10 - ₹ 1000

NYOOOZ FRIEND

₹ 2000 - ₹ 5000

Your support to NYOOOZ will help us to continue create and publish news for and from smaller cities, which also need equal voice as much as citizens living in bigger cities have through mainstream media organizations.