Services at govt hospital hit after 2 doctors assaulted

New Delhi: In another case of attack on doctors, two resident doctors were allegedly assaulted at Delhi government’s Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital by the parents of a child who was admitted at its paediatric ward.

Following this, medical services at the hospital came to a halt as more than 300 resident doctors went on an indefinite strike in protest against the assault.

According to the doctors, Dr Gursimar, who is the RDA president of DDU, was assaulted by the parents of the child “over a minor issue”. The doctor was hit on his eyes. Another doctor, Rishab Raj, who was deputed in the same ward, was also hit on his hands.

The assault, especially on the RDA president, enraged other doctors who said that unless security is increased and the accused parents are booked, they would not resume duty.

Dr Gursimar said, “We had ended our previous strike on the assurance of increased security. The government deployed 24 security guards, but they were called back within one week.”

“How long will we keep tolerating these assaults? Are we here to treat patients or get assaulted? We are abused time and again by patients. This is shameful and not acceptable. There are only 36 beds on which 110 patients are lying. If there is delay in getting blood reports, how can we be held responsible for that?” he added.

This is the second such strike by DDU doctors in a year. In April, the resident doctors had gone on an indefinite strike following a similar incident. This had come days after 4,000 doctors in Maharashtra went on mass casual leave after several cases of assault on doctors were reported from across the state.