- Monday, February 24, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
DELHI chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday (4) wrote to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi saying all doctors, nurses and paramedics who served the people in times of the Covid-19 pandemic should be conferred the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, this year. It will be a true homage to all the doctors who lost their lives in the challenging times, he said. Kejriwal’s words came just days after India remembered the doctors who sacrificed their lives fighting the deadly disease on July 1, observed as the National Doctors’ Day in India.
“Many doctors and nurses sacrificed their lives fighting Corona. If we honour them with Bharat Ratna then it will be a true tribute to them. Lakhs of doctors and nurses served people selflessly without worrying about their lives and families. There can be no other better way (than honouring them with Bharat Ratna) to thank and honour them,” Kejriwal wrote in the letter in Hindi.
The Aam Aadmi Party leader also said that necessary changes should be made in the rules if required so that the medical community can be given the prestigious award.
“If rules do not permit to confer Bharat Ratna on a group, then I request you to change rules. Entire country is grateful towards our doctors. Every citizen of the country will be happy if they (doctors) are honoured with Bharat Ratna,” he wrote in his letter.
Kejriwal, who is serving his third term as the chief minister, also tweeted about the same earlier in the day.
“The ‘Indian Doctor’ should receive Bharat Ratna this year. ‘Indian Doctor’ means all doctors, nurses and paramedics. It will be a true homage to all martyred doctors. It will be an honour of those who have been serving without caring for their lives and families. The whole country will be glad at this,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.
More than 700 doctors have died of coronavirus infection during the devastating second wave that has hit India over the recent months, according to data available by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in the middle of last month.
The state of Bihar saw the most number of doctors dying – 115, followed by Delhi (109), Uttar Pradesh (79), West Bengal (62), Rajasthan (43), Jharkhand (39) and Andhra Pradesh (38), according to the data.
The IMA said nearly 750 doctors died in the first wave of the pandemic.
