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Doctor, 2 nurses assaulted by patient’s family in Bengal’s Murshidabad; 5 held
Police have arrested five persons on the basis of a complaint lodged by the hospital authorities and the patient was shifted to Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital (MMCH) the same evening
A doctor and two nurses at a block primary health centre in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district were allegedly attacked by family members of a patient they referred to a better hospital on Thursday evening.
Police have arrested five persons on the basis of a complaint lodged by the hospital authorities and the patient was shifted to Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital (MMCH) the same evening.
Late on Thursday, 52-year-old Rina Begum was rushed to the Shaktipur BPHC [block primary health centre] with respiratory problems. After a preliminary check-up, the doctor and nurses referred her to MMCH as the BPHC lacked the facility to handle her case.
“The patient had chronic respiratory problems. Her oxygen saturation level had dropped below 80 and she had a high blood pressure. A BPHC is not equipped to treat such a patient...But some of her family members, who were in inebriated state, attacked the hospital staff,” said Prasanta Biswas, chief medical officer of health of Murshidabad district.
A nurse who sustained injuries in her abdomen said though the patient was referred to a district medical college, her family demanded that she be treated at the BPHC as her condition was deteriorating.
“I was hit in my abdomen. I had recently undergone a Caesarean delivery and there are stitches. The mob also attacked another nurse and doctor and vandalised the furniture,” said nurse Radharani Dey.
The patient’s family said it would be difficult to shift her at night as the district medical college was around 35 -40km away.
“When we reached the hospital, the patient’s condition was critical. We demanded that she be treated, and we would shift her to the medical college next morning. But the hospital staff pressured us to shift her at night itself. We never got the treatment and now police have arrested five of our relatives,” said Torabuddin Sheikh, a relative of the patient.
