‘Shutdown of health services’: Doctors after protesters detained

In the evening, hundreds of doctors from Safdarjung hospital who were marching towards the residence of Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya were allegedly detained at the Sarojini Nagar police station.

Resident doctors protesting against the delays in NEET postgraduate counselling near central Delhi’s ITO on Monday alleged that the police thrashed and detained them, and announced a “complete shutdown of health care institutions”.

Doctors stage a protest outside Sarojini Nagar station after police detained several doctors during a protest over delay in NEET-PG counselling 2021, on Monday. (PTI)

“A black day in the history of the medical fraternity of the nation. Resident doctors, the so called ‘Corona warriors’, protesting peacefully to expedite NEET-PG counselling 2021 in Delhi were brutally thrashed, dragged and detained by cops. There will be a complete shutdown of all healthcare institutions today onwards. The medical fraternity of the nation must condemn this act in strongest words and come forward in support. We urge all state RDAs of the nation to join the agitation. We all stand united in this fight against injustice,” the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association India (Forda) said in a statement on Monday.

Later in the evening, hundreds of doctors from Safdarjung hospital who were marching towards the residence of Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya were allegedly detained at the Sarojini Nagar police station.

A senior police official said around “200-250 people” were protesting outside Sarojini Nagar police station. “We have not detained a single person till now and are trying to pacify them,” said a senior police official.

The Delhi Police also denied the allegations of assaulting protesters at ITO, and said that 12 protesters were briefly detained from the agitation site and taken to the Rajendra Nagar police station, where they were released later.

Manish confirmed that the detained doctors were released but added they would continue with their protest. “No solution has been found to the problem yet. Resident doctors have not been working for almost 10 days now. We were promised a solution within a week after having met the [Union] health minister but it has been four weeks and there is no solution in sight. We have had four rounds of meetings so far to no avail.”

Union health ministry officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Forda tweeted and retweeted various videos of hundreds of doctors inside the Sarojini Nagar police station on Monday evening.

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also shared a video of the police personnel trying to remove protesters from ITO, adding that he supported the doctors. “I support the #covidwarriors against the cruelty of the Union government,” Gandhi tweeted in Hindi.

Resident doctors have been protesting delays in counselling process, which is now pending the outcome of a batch of petitions being heard by the Supreme Court over economic reservations. Doctors have asked the government to expedite the process.