An open letter from a resident doctor at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Puducherry to the Tamil Nadu govt and actors Vijay, Simbu, saying “I’m tired” after the state govt gave a go-ahead for film theaters to run in the state with 100% capacity has gone viral.
The decision of the government comes in the wake of actor Vijay’s meeting with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami, who made a request to allow 100% of the theater occupancy.
The Tamil Nadu government took the decision with some high profile releases just around the corner for the Pongal festival. During Pongal, Vijay’s movie “Master” is scheduled for release.
The government had said that as the number of Covid-19 infections was going down in the state the decision was taken. The decision has been accepted by many in the Tamil film industry.
But according to the official sources said theaters run with 100% capacity was not addressed during last week’s meeting of the health experts’ panel with the Chief Minister.
The decision of the State Government to allow for the full occupancy of theaters has not been taken well by health professionals and experts in public health.
A cross-section of them dissatisfied, feeling that this was a danger at a time when the COVID-19 cases decreased and the attempts made to date could be counterproductive.
Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan also expressed concern and said, “I saw the order issued by the Revenue Department and we will take up the matter with them. We will look into the Indian government guidelines, standard operating procedure (SOPs), and challenges and bring it to their notice.”
An open letter addressed to Vijay, Silambarasan and the government of Tamil Nadu has been sent by Aravinth Srinivas, a Junior resident doctor at Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research.
I am tired. We are all tired. Thousands of doctors like me are tired. Health care workers are tired. Police officials are tired. Sanitary workers are tired.
We have worked so hard at the ground level to make sure the damage done is kept to as low as possible amidst an unprecedented pandemic. I am not glorifying our work for I know there is nothing so great about it to the onlooker’s eyes. We don’t have cameras in front of us. We don’t do stunt sequences. We aren’t heroes. But we deserve some time to breathe. We don’t want to fall prey to someone’s selfishness and greed.
The pandemic isn’t over and we have people dying till today to the disease. A hundred percent theatre occupancy is a suicide attempt. Rather homicide, for none of the policymakers or the so-called heroes are going to put themselves under the pump, to watch the movie amidst the crowd. This is a blatant barter system, trading lives for money.
Can we please slowly try and concentrate on our lives and make sure we tide through this pandemic peacefully and not reignite the slowly burning out flame, that is still not completely put out?
I wanted to make this post scientific and explain why we are still in danger. But that’s when I asked myself, “what’s the point?”
Yours tiredly
A poor, tired resident doctor
Many people have posed questions and criticized it, including health experts and a few celebrities.–
India: Cinema theaters are poorly ventilated, indoor, crowded, prolonged exposure settings. I cringe at the thought of opening theaters without complete control over the viral spread.
Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. https://t.co/MhPcziMWgo
— Faheem Younus, MD (@FaheemYounus) January 5, 2021
This is so, so very sad 😔 pic.twitter.com/KuHj8KpBbV
— Karthik 🇮🇳 (@beastoftraal) January 5, 2021
