NEW DELHI: In his address to the nation on Tuesday, PM Narendra Modi once again lauded the work of health workers out in the trenches battling coronavirus. Yet in certain parts of the country, these soldiers of humanity are facing social stigma. Fresh reports from Kerala , Bengal and Karnataka highlight cases of discrimination against them.Health minister Harsh Vardhan too acknowledged the problem by posting a tweet on Tuesday. “I’m DEEPLY ANGUISHED to see reports pouring in from Delhi, Noida, Warangal, Chennai etc that DOCTORS & PARAMEDICS are being ostracised in residential complexes & societies. Landlords are threatening to evict them fearing #COVID2019 infection. Pls don’t panic!”In Kerala, three male nurses, who had voluntarily opted for duty at the isolation wards in a governement hospital in Kottayam , had to leave their rented accommodation after the landlord voiced his concern. Others in the neighbourhood were also not ready to rent out their homes. After the collector P K Sudheer Babu intervened, the hospital superintendent agreed to allot an unused quarter on the campus to them for two weeks.In Kolkata, it was a similar story for some nurses attached with hospitals where Covid-19 patients are either getting treated or have died. They too were asked to vacate their rooms by their landlords.A male nurse who shared a flat in Salt Lake with two other colleagues faced problems when the neighbours came to know of the death of a 57-year-old Covid-19 patient. Another nurse from the Infectious Diseases and Beliaghata General Hospital, the apex hospital for Covid-19 in the state, was asked to leave her rented apartment. A government doctor from the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital (MMCH) was thrown out of his rented accommodation in Behrampore by the landlord on Monday.In Karnataka, three private medical colleges in Devanahalli, who had joined hands with the state government to provide quarantine facilities to suspected Covid-19 patients, are facing an acute shortage of housekeeping staff. Reason: Fellow villagers come do not want the health care staff to work in the quarantines. Those who do are barred from coming back home.“We have about 100 housekeeping staff to maintain a 400 bed hospital. Since the time we started admitting senior citizens returning from Covid-19 affected countries in quarantine, the housekeeping staff have stopped coming. They come from the neighbouring villages. We are working with just four members to clean the hospital,” said the spokesperson of a private college near the city.It’s a different story in Jharkhand and Bihar. Health workers in Jharkhand haven’t faced any kind of ostracisation. Instead they are being appreciated for their hard work. Doctors and nurses working at major government as well as leading private hospitals said that they are being applauded for their work from common people.“I stay in a rented accommodation in Bariatu with my family and visit RIMS daily but neither my landlord nor the neighbors have raised any objections due to my profession. On the other hand, they always inquire me on the situation on COVID-19 and ask me about the preventive measures,” said a senior surgeon with RIMS.IMA Bihar member Dr Harihar Dixit said he had not heard of any instance of doctors or nurses being ostracized in the state. Dr Neeraj Agarwal, posted at community medicine branch in AIIMS-Patna, gave a similar reply.(Inputs from Kottayam, Kolkata, Patna, Ranchi and Bengaluru)