Doctors at Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) on Wednesday staged a protest against the brutal attack on a junior doctor at a Covid-19 care centre in Assam's Hojai district yesterday.
Junior doctors accompanied by senior doctors and frontline health workers boycotted the Outpatient Department (OPD) services and staged protests by wearing black badges in the government-run hospitals of Guwahati, Hojai, Biswanath, Jorhat, Tezpur, Nagaon and many other places in the state
Doctors in GMCH protested carrying posters written "Stop Violence against Doctors". "We want the government's support in this matter and ensuring our safety," a protesting doctor told ANI.
Dr Seuj Kumar Senapati, posted at COVID facility in Assam's Hojai district was attacked by a mob on Tuesday following a patient's death.
Meanwhile, the Residents Doctor's Association (RDA) of AIIMS, New Delhi on Wednesday wrote to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma demanding immediate action against the offenders.
"Taking into serious account of the recent incident of assault on a doctor in Assam, Resident Doctors Association AIIMS demands strict action against the perpetrators according to the Epidemic Disease Act, 1897 and prevention of any such incidents in future," said RDA, AIIMS.
"Patient's attendant told me that he had not urinated since morning. I went to check and found him dead. His relatives started abusing and beating me," Dr Senapati said.
Following the incident, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Tuesday wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking an effective and strong law "against healthcare violence".
In a letter to the Home Minister, IMA referred to an incident in Assam on Monday in which a mob thrashed a doctor after a COVID-19 patient died and said there was a "barbaric attack" on Dr Seuj Kumar.
As many as 24 people have been arrested in connection with the thrashing of a doctor in Assam's Hojai district, informed Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday.
"24 culprits involved in this barbaric attack have been arrested and the chargesheet will be filed at the earliest. I am personally monitoring this investigation and I promise that justice will be served," he tweeted.
