Thiruvananthapuram | A prominent doctors' association on Friday accused Kerala Health Minister K Muraleedharan's private secretary of behaving discourteously towards a senior woman civil surgeon during a visit to a government health centre and warned of strong protests if such incidents recur.

The Kerala Government Medical Officers' Association (KGMOA), the sole service organisation representing all categories of doctors in the state's health services, registered strong protest over the alleged incident occurred during the private secretary's visit to the Community Health Centre at Ayranimuttam here on Thursday.

In a statement, the KGMOA's Thiruvananthapuram district committee alleged that the senior civil surgeon was publicly humiliated over claims that the hospital had not begun functioning at 8 am, even though the prescribed working hours for primary and community health centres begin at 9 am.

The association said such conduct demoralises doctors who are working sincerely in the public healthcare system and cannot be accepted.

It further contended that a health minister's private secretary has no legal authority to conduct official inspections of government health institutions or directly interfere in their administrative functioning.

According to the KGMOA, similar visits carried out in the name of inspections have resulted in discourteous behaviour towards doctors and other healthcare workers at several government health facilities.

The association said it fully supports the Health minister's initiatives to strengthen the state's public healthcare system, but strongly opposes what it described as interventions from his office that exceed official authority and undermine the dignity of healthcare workers.

KGMOA urged the government to take immediate steps to ensure that such incidents are not repeated, warning that it would launch strong protest programmes to safeguard the dignity and morale of doctors and other health workers if corrective measures are not taken.

There was no immediate response from the Health minister's office.