The junior doctors who were protesting against the rape and murder of their colleague in West Bengal have threatened to resume their demonstration after a mob allegedly attacked medics at a state-run hospital, reported The Times of India on Sunday.
On Friday, relatives of a woman admitted to the College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital in North 24 Parganas allegedly assaulted on-duty doctors and hospital staff after she died, according to The Hindu.
“They threw utensils at us, they dragged doctors by their hands, and manhandled female staff,” a junior doctor at the Sagore Dutta Hospital was quoted as having said. “Women doctors had to flee and lock themselves in a room to escape.”
The doctors also alleged that the police arrived half an hour after they were called despite the outpost being on the hospital premises.
This comes nearly two months after a 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9.
For more than a month, the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front held cease-work protests demanding the resignation of several senior officials and an end to the “threat culture” in West Bengal’s medical centres. On September 21, they partially withdrew their strike to resume duties in essential and emergency services after several rounds of talks with the state government.
However, on Saturday, junior doctors in West Bengal threatened that they would return to complete cease-work after a Supreme Court hearing on the RG Kar rape-murder case on Monday, reported The Times of India.
“The assault on our colleagues happened on Friday when WBJDF [West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front] was discussing issues of safety, security and threat culture,” said Anustup Mukherjee, a member of the doctors’ group. “This incident has proved that government has failed to instil confidence for us to return to the wards.”
Ankit Mahata, a junior doctor, said that their counsel will tell the Supreme Court on Monday that the West Bengal government had failed to “build confidence among” the medics, reported Hindustan Times.
“We will also see what the state tells the court,” said Mahata. “If there is no positive response, we will again start our cease work across all state-run hospitals from Monday 5 pm.”
Meanwhile, Barrackpore Police Commissioner Alok Rajoria said on Saturday that they had arrested four people in connection with the assault at Sagore Dutta Hospital. “We have also procured CCTV footage from the hospital premises,” he was quoted as having said by The Hindu. “We will flag other suspects from CCTV visuals and arrest them.”
The junior doctors at Sagore Dutta Hospital began a strike on Friday.
According to Sujay Mistri, the medical superintendent and vice principal of the hospital, the patient who died was severely sick for the last five days and “was in poor condition when she was admitted on Friday”.
“Our doctors and nurses did their best,” said Mistri. “There was no medical negligence here.”
The Resident Doctors’ Association at the hospital said that the patient was admitted to the female medicine ward with a fever of unknown origin and dysentery for the previous five days. The association said that the patient’s condition deteriorated suddenly at around 5.30 pm.
“Despite much effort and prompt cardiopulmonary resuscitation, she could not be saved,” said the doctors. “Then, a mob of about 15-20 people suddenly entered the female ward and attacked the on-call interns, house staff and postgraduate trainees.”
However, the patient’s family has alleged that she died because she was not given treatment, reported The Telegraph.
“When my daughter was gasping for breath, a nurse came,” the patient’s mother alleged. “The doctors did not do any treatment, they did not give her any medicine.”
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