Around 1,200 resident doctors from New Delhi’s Lady Hardinge Medical College and its two associated hospitals went on a flash strike on Thursday to protest doctors getting beaten by the relatives of a patient.
One of the doctors on duty was also bitten on his arm by the patient’s relative.
None of the services, including the Emergency, were running on Thursday. The Kalawati Saran hospital, situated in central Delhi, has the state’s largest neonatal wing and is among one of the biggest children’s hospitals in Asia.
The death of a 3-year-old girl with encephalopathy, a brain disease, on Thursday morning triggered the assault. . “She was brought to Lady Hardinge late on Wednesday night in a critical condition being taken to several other hospitals, but by then, her condition was critical and the parents were told right away that she may not survive,” a resident doctor from the hospital said.
When she died at around 5 am, her parents called up their friends and family and nearly 15 people barged into the paediatric ward and attacked three resident doctors on duty.
“About half-an-hour after the patient died, a mob came to the paediatrics ward, carrying rods. Doctors ran inside the Doctor’s Duty Room for cover and the guards ran away. Two of the mob members were even inebriated,” said Dr Vikram Bhaskar, senior resident doctor, paediatrics department.
{{/usCountry}}“About half-an-hour after the patient died, a mob came to the paediatrics ward, carrying rods. Doctors ran inside the Doctor’s Duty Room for cover and the guards ran away. Two of the mob members were even inebriated,” said Dr Vikram Bhaskar, senior resident doctor, paediatrics department.
{{/usCountry}}The event took a bizarre turn when one of the relatives bit a doctor in the heat of the moment.
Security has been one of the points of contention of doctors across government hospitals, with the resident doctors going on strike on at least four occasions in the last six months -- twice at Lok Nayak hospital, once at Deen Dayal Upadhyay and once at Chacha Nehru hospital.
“We have been asking the hospital to increase the number of guards and install CCTV cameras so that we feel safe while working. However, even during this incident, the guards ran away and the few CCTVs that are present in the hospital were not working,” said Dr Ravider Chauhan, president of the resident doctors’ association at Lady Hardinge Medical College.
The doctors will decide later tonight whether to continue the strike tomorrow or not.