Day after attack, doctor says he’s doing well; stir continues
Doctor, Balaji Jaganathan, who suffered seven stab wounds, told reporters that vital parameters are normal.
Chennai: The government doctor in Chennai, who was stabbed multiple times by his patient’s son on Wednesday, said from the ICU on Thursday that he was stable even as doctors working in government hospitals across Tamil Nadu boycotted their duty in protest against the brutal attack and demanded more security.
Doctor, Balaji Jaganathan, who suffered seven stab wounds, told reporters that vital parameters are normal. “I am doing good,” he said. “I am a cardiac patient and I have a pacemaker. But the doctors have helped me recover fast.”
Health minister M Subramanian, who visited the doctor and assured him of all required help, said that the government would tighten security in government hospitals to ensure the safety of doctors and nurses.
The Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) in Chennai has introduced a tag system for attendants of patients to identify them and to restrict the number of people inside the institutions. Subramanian said: “This has come into place in RGGGH today and we are planning to implement the system in all government medical college hospitals, district headquarters hospitals, and taluk hospitals. Each patient will get two tags.”
This was even as doctors in the same hospital - the Kalaignar Centenary Super speciality Hospital where Dr Balaji was attacked - continued their protest on Thursday demanding police protection in hospitals across the state and installation of CCTVs.
The attack took place at around 10.15 am on Wednesday, when the accused, identified as Vignesh, 26, entered Dr Balaji’s OP room to discuss about his mother and assaulted and stabbed him. Vignesh’s mother, Kanchana, underwent six sessions of chemotherapy at the government hospital. When Vignesh went to a private doctor, he was told that his mother developed complications in her lung and he misunderstood that it was the government doctor to blame, the health minister said.
“A person is bound to be emotionally upset if cancer is diagnosed,” said the Kalaignar hospital’s director Dr L Parthasarathy. ”The patient was admitted after the doctors explained about the treatment options to her.” He said that the protest did not affect services since there were sufficient numbers of doctors to attend to about 500 to 600 inpatients and those in ICU.
Vignesh was sent to 15-day judicial custody after he was booked under various sections of the BNS and Section 3 of the Tamil Nadu Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence or Loss to Property) Act, 2008.
Director general of police (DGP) Shankar Jiwal warned of “strict action” against those who attack doctors. Chennai police commissioner A Arun promised to beef up security in all government hospitals across the city.
Doctors from the Federation of Government Doctors’ Association and the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association protested outside their hospitals in districts such as Trichy and Coimbatore by raising slogans against the attack and demanding security.