Medical officers targeted in Rajpura, Patiala, association warns of strike
An emergency medical officer was assaulted by family of a deceased boy in Rajpura civil hospital while a doctor’s car was damaged by addicts in Patiala.
Medical officers were targeted in Rajpura and Patiala health facilities in 24 hours, prompting the doctors’ association to issue a strike warning while demanding arrest of the accused on Monday.
At the Rajpura civil hospital, an emergency medical officer was attacked by kin of a deceased patient on Sunday night. In his complaint to the police, he said the accused had brought a 15-year-old to the emergency ward who was later declared brought dead. The family demanded the body but he refused, informing them that it would be handed over to the police after a postmortem examination as it was an unnatural death.
According to the complainant, the family took the body forcibly from the hospital, but brought it back a little later with a request to keep it in the mortuary of the hospital. It was this time the family members allegedly attacked the doctor.
The doctor sought strict action against the accused for “assaulting and stopping him from discharging his duty”. He also sought adequate security at the hospital so that doctors may perform their duties without any fear.
Condemning the incident, Dr Bidhi Chand, senior medical officer at the Rajpura civil hospital, said, “This is a very unfortunate incident. This has once again instilled fear among the health professionals. We demand that the police register a case against the accused. We have already provided details of the accused to the police.”
The police have registered an FIR under Sections 132 and 221 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. An investigation has been initiated, the police said.
In another case, the car of a medical officer, posted at the community health centre in Model Town of Patiala, was vandalised allegedly by two drug addicts who had come to take treatment at the outpatient opioid assisted treatment (OOAT) centre on Monday.
According to information, the accused had an argument with the medical officer a few days ago as they wanted the latter to hand them adequate medicines, apparently so that they would’t need to visit the centre frequently for the same purpose.
The police said it had apprehended the addicts and further investigation was on. Following both the incident, the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) met the Patiala civil surgeon and sought necessary action against the accused. The association members said they would strike work in case the accused in both cases were not arrested by Tuesday morning.