A man whose son has been quarantined on suspicion of having Covid-19 symptoms assaulted a junior resident doctor at state-run Osmania General Hospital (OGH) in Hyderabad on Tuesday, the hospital said.
The assault once again raised questions about the security of medical professionals battling the coronavirus pandemic.
People with symptoms of Covid-19 are currently being kept at OGH and if any of them test positive for the virus, they are shifted immediately to Gandhi Hospital, the designated facility for treatment of the positive cases.
On Tuesday, two of those quarantined at OGH tested positive for Covid-19 and they were taken to Gandhi Hospital immediately.
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On coming to know about it, the father of a young man who has been under quarantine in the adjacent bed of one of the patients who tested positive, became furious. He rushed to the hospital and started abusing the doctors ask why his son was kept close to a Covid-19 patient.
He demanded that his son be discharged from the hospital and sent home as it was risky for him to be there in the ward.
{{/usCountry}}He demanded that his son be discharged from the hospital and sent home as it was risky for him to be there in the ward.
{{/usCountry}}“We tried to convince him and tell him that the ward comprises only quarantined persons and as soon as anyone of them tested positive, he would be shifted to Gandhi Hospital. But he did not listen and assaulted me,” Dr Nikhil, one of the junior doctors attending on the quarantined people, told reporters.
The junior doctors complained that more than one attendant was entering the isolation wards despite restrictions and behaving aggressively with doctors and nurses. They appealed to the government to provide sufficient protection to doctors and paramedics.
Following a complaint from OGH superintendent Dr B Nagender, the police reached the hospital and pacified the father, who later apologised to the doctors for his aggressive behaviour.
Health minister Eatala Rajender condemned the incident and asked the hospital authorities to ensure that such incidents do not recur. He assured of adequate police protection to the doctors at the hospital.
Last week, the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) in a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah demanded that assaults on doctors be treated as non-bailable offences and that the Centre brings in a law for the medical fraternity amid rising incident s of violence at a time when they are in the frontline of the fight against Covid-19.
On April 1, a Covid-19 positive patient at Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad attacked doctors after his brother was declared dead due to coronavirus.
Telangana Junior Doctors’ Association had protested against the incident and threatened to boycott their duties if such attacks continue. They demanded that the government deploy Central Reserve Police Force on each floor of the hospital.
Following their protests, the Hyderabad police booked a case against the assaulters under various sections of the IPC. A team of special police guards was deployed at the hospital later.