Patients in Lok Nayak’s Covid-19 ward abuse, threaten doctors

Tensions flared after a male patient allegedly made sexist remarks to a female doctor, according to the RDA. When the doctor’s colleagues objected, the patient instigated others to join in and they threatened the doctors, the RDA members said.

A group of patients admitted to a coronavirus (Covid-19) isolation ward at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Narayan Hospital allegedly abused on-duty doctors on Tuesday evening, following an altercation between a patient and a doctor earlier in the day, according to the resident doctors’ association (RDA) of the hospital.

Doctors and other medical staff seen in PPE outside emergency ward of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital, in New Delhi, India. (Sushil Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Tensions flared after a male patient allegedly made sexist remarks to a female doctor, according to the RDA. When the doctor’s colleagues objected, the patient instigated others to join in and they threatened the doctors, the RDA members said.

There are 780 suspected and confirmed cases of Covid-19 undergoing treatment at the hospital.

An incident report filed by the on-duty doctors stated, “The patient threatened to jump off the roof along with some other restless patients.”

He wanted to be discharged from the hospital at the earliest, according to the incident report. Although the patient tested Covid-19 negative initially, the doctors were awaiting another report, as per the government policy, before discharging him.

The doctors hid in their rooms after the situation escalated and the patients tried to break in, according to a letter written by the members of the RDA to the hospital administration, citing several security lapses.

Although doctors reportedly asked security guards for assistance, a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) kits meant they could not immediately enter the isolation ward. The guards got a handle on the situation after doctors arranged PPE kits for them.

“This situation could have been avoided had there been PPE kits for the security staff, standard operating protocols regarding handling of violence and provision of psychologists or counsellors to periodically counsel the patients,” the RDA report stated.

RDA members alleged that repeated calls to the hospital’s chief medical officer went unanswered, while the floor in-charge only communicated through a messaging service, advising them doctors to call the security in-charge or then call the police if they did not get a response.

They have asked the hospital to file an institutional first information report (FIR). They have also asked the hospital for the deployment of security at the isolation ward and sought action against those who failed to respond during the crisis.

On Wednesday, the hospital administration held talks with the RDA. After the meeting with the resident doctors, the medical director, Dr JC Passey, said, “An FIR against the culprits is being filed. The security guard on duty and the supervisor have been suspended. Police protection in the hospital is being strengthened. And, explanations are being sought from the senior doctors, who the RDA has alleged did not take timely action.”