1,200 resident doctors, students go on an indefinite strike; MARD threatens state-wide strike if accused are not arrested.
Mumbai : Three resident doctors including Dr Suhas Chaudhary, Dr Puneet Garg and Dr Kushal Sharnagat from KEM hospital were assaulted with iron rods and chairs by angry kin of a three and a half-year-old boy who died of dengue on Friday morning. The relatives alleged that the doctors showed negligence which led to the death of their child. Following the incident, 1,200 resident doctors and students of the hospital protested and went on an indefinite strike since 8 am on Friday.
Further, the Central Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) stated that all the doctors will wear black ribbons to work and will go on a state-wide strike if all the accused are not arrested under the Doctors Protection Act (DPA) 2010. The attack left the three doctors with serious head injuries following which they were admitted to the ICU. However, one doctor has been discharged and other two are still recuperating in the hospital.
Central MARD president Dr Sagar Mundada said, “No one from the hospital came forward to look into the matter and no action was taken against the accused for hours. However, later a First Information Report (FIR) was filed at the Bhoiwada police station and two accused were arrested on Friday morning whereas the other two are still out in the open. We doctors have been working under constant threat and yet no strong actions have been taken for our security.”
The child’s condition was already serious with non-recordable pulse and high blood pressure when he was brought to the hospital by 11 pm on Thursday.
The doctors had informed the relatives about the non-availability of beds in Intensive-Care Unit (ICU) and had asked to take the child to another hospital. However, the relatives were adamant to admit the child in the same hospital and were ready to get the child admitted to the general ward. However, around 4 am, the child started getting breathlessness and died due to dengue shock syndrome.
What is needed to make KEM safe
As against requirement of 145 CCTV cameras, the hospital has only 10 cameras. The hospital needs 21 additional walkie-talkies as against 34 available walkie-talkies. A minimum of 30 well-built strong security guards are to be posted in sensitive areas of the hospital and two security guards to be posted in major departments such as emergency, casualty and ICU.
