Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has received a letter from more than 280 doctors asking permission to commit suicide. The doctors stated in the letter that they are willing to end their lives over non-fulfilment of promises and disrespectful behaviour by the state government.

They lamented about the ill-treatment of Ayurvedic doctors by the state government, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. The doctors, in the letter, expressed disappointment over prolonged posting in backward tribal areas,

The letter comes into light after an Ayurvedic doctor Swapnil Lonkar committed suicide as he was not given a posting even after he cleared Maharashtra Public Service Commission exam. The Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine, and Surgery (BAMS) doctors said that they have been serving in 18 tribal districts for the last two decades, often visiting remotely located villages that do not even have basic facilities.

Earlier in 2020, it was decided that these 281 doctors working in tribal areas will be given Rs 40,000 instead of Rs 24,000 as salary. However, this decision is yet to be implemented.

“If special incentive allowances are given to police and the government staff working in Naxal-affected areas, even we who are working in tribal areas are eligible for those incentives,” said one of the signatories to the permission letter.

The doctors said that Uddhav Thackeray's government had failed in showing humanity towards people working hard under unfavourable conditions in the remotest corners of the state, especially during the Covid pandemic situation.