SHOCKING: Female doctor at Safdarjung Hospital attacked, staff goes on strike

It had happened earlier and it happened again: a doctor at a leading government hospital was attacked on Wednesday by the relatives of a patient, forcing the resident doctors to go on a day-long strike.

The incident occurred at the Safdarjung Hospital here when a female doctor was allegedly manhandled, exposing once again the vulnerability of the medical professionals who are trying their best to serve. Little surprise then that the doctors demanded enhanced security on the hospital premises and struck work. An FIR has been registered at the Safdarjung Enclave police station.

WHAT HAPPENED

The doctor, a first-year PG student, was allegedly attacked when the attendants of a patient in the emergency ward wanted the baby to be examined out of turn. While there are about 250 security guards for the hospital premises, in the evening there were just about 50 on duty across the precinct, said a doctor requesting anonymity. He alleged that the security guards are mostly missing in the night.

Following the incident, the doctors at the hospital went on a strike. "We won't call off the protest unless a written assurance is given by the Delhi and the Central governments that there will be proper security at the hospitals," a senior doctor told MAIL TODAY.

This was not an isolated incident: in the last six months at least 25 cases were reported when the doctors were thrashed by the irate relatives of the patients, a senior doctor at the Safdarjung Hospital said. Last Friday, another a female resident doctor was allegedly manhandled by the attendants of a patient in the paediatric ward.

"Such instances of violence against doctors are not stopping. We do not have any security," a protesting junior resident doctor said.

Also Read: Doctor attacked by patients kin, in ICU

KNOW ABOUT SAFDARJUNG HOSPITAL

Safdarjung Hospital caters to at least 8,000 patients in the outpatient department and 2,000 patients in the emergency section every day. Not surprisingly, patients at the hospital were caught unaware due to sudden strike call by the resident doctors. The hospital operations were then managed by the faculty/head of respective medical departments.

Similar incidents of doctors being manhandled had been reported from the other government hospitals. In the recent past, doctors at the Deen Dayal Upadhaya Hospital, Ambedkar Hospital and RML Hospital protested against such rising incidents of violence.

Federation of Resident Doctors Association president Dr Pankaj Solanki said: "We have written to the Union health minister seeking quick action for the safety of doctors at government hospitals."

Also Read: AIIMS, Safdarjung hospital in a tug of war over 'super speciality block'