Junior doctors strike after assault

Kolkata, Aug 27: Junior doctors stopped working at the emergency services department at state-run NRS Hospital today for several hours in protest against alleged assault on their colleagues, including a woman doctor, by relatives of a patient who died in the facility.

Hospital sources said a critically ill patient was brought to the emergency ward by a group of about 30 people this afternoon.

The 40-year-old patient Pervez Hussein was recommended a CT scan and he died while being taken for the test. The people accompanying him then went on the rampage and allegedly assaulted the junior doctors present, including a woman, the sources said.

Demanding security, the junior doctors went for ceasework running for hours, the sources said.

During the ceasework, a patient, injured in road accident, was seen lying before the emergency ward triggering protest by his family who tried to block the nearby road in protest but refrained from doing so after the patient was later admitted to emergency ward.

Junior doctors resumed work late in the evening after talks with the superintendent of hospital.

The sources said a meeting will be held on August 30 in which representatives of the doctors, the hospital authorities and Patients' Welfare Committee of the hospital will be present to discuss certain issues including healthcare facilities and security.

Police sources said a force from Entally police station went to the spot in the afternoon and the situation was normal now.