Mumbai: Resident doctors in government hospitals across Mumbai have decided to go on mass leave in wake of the brutal attacks on doctors in recent days. Expressing solidarity with the attacked resident doctors at the hospital, the doctors in Mumbai are agitating against the recent spate of attacks on resident doctors and have demanded strict action from the government. They said that they cannot work under such life-threatening conditions.
In the third such attack in a week, a resident doctor at Sion Hospital was allegedly assaulted by the relatives of a patient. The patient died a few hours after being admitted to the hospital. Police said a total of three people have been arrested in this connection. Earlier, similar incidences have been reported from Dhule and Nashik. Moreover, another similar incident was reported from Aurangabad, where relatives of a patient, who had a fracture in the hand, bashed the doctor at Ghati Government hospital on Sunday night. The incident was triggered after the doctor and the relatives got into an argument which later escalated.
The Sion hospital incident is the third such incident in this month. On March 12, a resident doctor in Dhule-based government hospital was brutally assaulted by distraught relatives after a patient died. On March 16, an intern Dr Rahul Patil and a nurse were beaten up in a Nashik-based government hospital.
As per Police reports, a patient named Rekha Ghavari, 60 was suffering from chronic kidney disease and was brought to the hospital in a serious condition at 12.11 a.m. on Saturday. When the patient died the same day at 10.05 p.m., the relatives thrashed Dr. Rohit Kumar and physically assaulted him. Rohit is a first-year resident who was treating her.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) did not go on a strike as they had assured the Mumbai High Court they would not do so. After the Dhule incident, MARD had called a state-wide strike but decided not to in the next few hours. As per Mumbai High Court order, the MARD cannot call for a strike. This is why, the doctors have gone on leave instead. Dr. Shivkumar Utture, member, Indian Medical Association said, “Whatever is happening is worrisome. If this continues, no one will want their children to study medicine”.
On Monday morning, a crowd gathered outside Sion Hospital as resident doctors across Mumbai went on strike after recent incidents of violence against doctors. About 75 percent of resident doctors across major Mumbai health centers, including Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital, KEM Hospital, JJ Hospital and Nair Hospital, have gone on leave, India Today report stated. Dr Avinash Supe, Dean, KEM Hospital, Mumbai said, “We are making all emergency arrangements so that patients do not suffer”.
