Doctor's at Delhi's DDU hospital go on strike alleging assault

Resident doctors at West Delhi's Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) hospital on Monday went on an indefinite strike after one of their colleagues and hospital guards were allegedly assaulted.

New Delhi, Apr 4: Resident doctors at West Delhi's Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) hospital on Monday went on an indefinite strike after one of their colleagues and hospital guards were allegedly assaulted by the relatives of a patient.

Three persons were arrested and it was found that one of the accused had served as a guard in the hospital before. He alleged that his wife was not attended by doctors in time. The strike affected the services in the hospital as the out-patient department (OPD) remained shut and 40 routine surgeries were cancelled.

Emergency services are being run by a few senior doctors with help of skeletal staff. The protest by doctors comes barely two weeks after the resident doctors in Maharashtra went on strike to protest against a series of assaults on doctors.

President of the resident doctors' association at DDU hospital, Dr Sumit Paria said the incident occurred around 11 PM yesterday when a woman came to the emergency with complaints of abdomen pain.

"She was given primary treatment and was sent to the labour room for examination. As it was taking some time, the relatives of the patient demanded the doctors examine their patient first.

"They then suddenly started abusing the doctors and even assaulted the senior resident doctor on duty," Paria said.

According to Paria, the group of people appeared after few minutes and started beating the guards standing in front of the emergency door. When the senior resident doctor intervened, he too was beaten up.

"Other female doctors in the emergency department locked themselves in toilets and the room of chief medical officer. The door to the CO office was broken down by the relatives. We do not know the cause of the assault as the pregnant woman they were with had already been sent to the labour room," he added.

The protesting doctors are demanding enhanced security at the hospital premises.

"Their representation has been forwarded to the Health Secretary. The patient was attended and her problems were solve. So the reason for such an aggression is not known," Dr A K Mehta, the medical superintendent of the hospital said.

Paria said the doctors from other hospitals might also join the strike tomorrow which would in turn affect services at all government hospitals in Delhi. Police said a PCR call about the quarrel was received yesterday.

On reaching the spot, the investigating officer found two persons quarrelling with the doctors. Both the accused were controlled by the staff, said a senior police officer. Dr Sanjay, CMO, DDU Hospital has given a written complaint wherein he alleged that the attendants of the patient Pooja attacked and physically assaulted special security guard Vikram Chauhan and a senior doctor Shashank Srivastav while on duty.

The medical examination of the two victims has been carried out. The accused had also damaged the public property. A case was registered at Hari Nagar police station and three accused Amresh Kumar, Mukesh and Nirmal Kumar were arrested and sent to judicial custody. Amresh had worked as a guard at the hospital and he claimed that his wife was not attended properly.

PTI