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Doc?s arrest: Irate medical fraternity steps up pressure
THE arrest of a physician here is snowballing into a major issue as the Nursing Homes Association has also joined the Indian Medical Association, Gorakhpur branch and GP Association of the physicians in mounting pressure on the district administration for suspension of the police officials who had arrested surgeon Dr Sushil Chandra following the death of a patient during treatment in his private hospital at Daudpur crossing on January 30 .
THE arrest of a physician here is snowballing into a major issue as the Nursing Homes Association has also joined the Indian Medical Association, Gorakhpur branch and GP Association of the physicians in mounting pressure on the district administration for suspension of the police officials who had arrested surgeon Dr Sushil Chandra following the death of a patient during treatment in his private hospital at Daudpur crossing on January 30 .In a joint press conference, the office-bearers of these organisations blamed the police personnel for violating the directive of the Supreme Court and Director General of Police’s guideline in the arrest of physicians.
President of IMA Dr AK Srivastav and president of GP Association Dr BL Agrawal, president of Nursing Homes Association DR AK Chaturvedi and others said the tolerance of doctors’ should not be considered as their weakness.
Levelling serious charges against the police personnel, they said the police officials were testing the patience of doctors and they would not remain mute spectators for long if the harassment of physicians continued.
Dr Srivastav said that a guideline was issued for prosecuting the medical professionals by the Supreme Court in which it was said that a doctor accused of rashness or negligence may not be arrested in aroutine manner unless his arrest was necessary for investigation or for collecting evidence.
He said that the guideline was issued in the case of Jacob Mathew vs the State of Punjab.
Dr Bhaskar Mall and Dr BL Agrawal said that on January 20, the Director General of UP Police also issued a five-point circular to the police officials regarding the investigation against medical professionals before making arrests.
He said competent medical opinion preferably for doctor in government service was required before taking the accused into custody.
Responding to a question, he said that a delegation of doctors had handed over a memorandum to the district magistrate regarding their demands and the district magistrate had sought a week’s time for investigation against the police officials violating the directive of the SC.
