Doctors thrashed at Safdarjung, RDA calls for strike

New Delhi, Aug 30: A resident doctor of Safdarjung hospital was assaulted by the family of a patient who died on Thursday due to prolonged illness.

"There has been a brutal attack on two on-duty resident doctors upon the death of a patient diagnosed with chronic alcoholic liver disease and other medical issues as well," Prakash Thakur of the RDA told news agency IANS.

A mob of around 10 people attacked the two doctors and brutally thrashed them. The victims sustained injuries on their face, head, back, abdomen and limbs, Thakur said.

Following the incident, the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) has also extended its support to the doctors, demanding strict action in the matter.

This is the second strike by the doctors of the hospital. The doctors from Safdarjung hospital along with resident doctors from the hospital across Delhi had gone on a strike to protest against the National Medical Commission Act, 2019.

The fraternity was opposing section 32(1), (2) and (3) of the bill, saying it will encourage quackery by providing licence to practice modern medicine as community health providers for persons other than those possessing MBBS degrees.

The doctors said there was no clarity over the introduction of NEXT and scrapping the NEET-PG.

They were also opposing decreasing the percentage of seats under controlled fees structure in private medical colleges and deemed universities from 85 to 50 per cent, reducing the representation of elected members from 75 per cent in MCI to 20 per cent in the National Medical Commission and autonomous boards constituted there-under.