Big protest erupts after attack on GH doctor

Earlier in the evening on Thursday, the GH police arrested a youth for assaulting a senior PG student inside the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and preventing him from doing his duty. Police arrested R Dileep Kumar (29), a resident of Pullapuram, Kilpauk after the medical students carried out a protest and blocked the road opposite GH. This caused a huge traffic pile up on the arterial road. 

Police sources said a student from Adiparashakthi College of Engineering was admitted to GH after he was referred from a private hospital. He was injured in a clash at the college and about 12 people, friends and classmates of the injured student gathered around his hospital bed, causing difficulty to doctors treating the patient. 

The doctor asked the students not to crowd around the bed. This led to a heated exchange between the doctor and the students and one of them hit a senior medical PG student. The medical student gang which had been protesting the assault of a fellow doctor, gathered at the venue when learnt tabout the assault on their colleague and staged a road block. Senior police officials rushed to the spot to pacify the doctors and cleared the road. 

However, things went out of control again when the student group, which is said to be affiliated to the Hindu Munnani started gathering strength, alleging harassment from the doctors and medical students. They staged a protest near the gates of MMC. 

Vehicular movement was seriously affected near GH and Central Station following the protests and students dispersed only after senior police officials held discussions with them and ensured action against the group which assaulted the senior PG student. Police also dispersed the rival group, ensuring a fair investigation into the issue. 

Speaking to this newspaper, Dravida Semmal, a final year MBBS student, said that doctors are increasingly unsafe at hospitals. “They are being attacked everywhere; this should stop. We are here to serve people.” 

Dr GR Ravindranath, general secretary, Doctors Association for Social Equality (DASE), said that the attack showed the burden on doctors and staff nurses. 

“The poor infrastructure and facilities and the lack of enough professionals have made duty doctors and nurses sitting ducks for such attacks,” he said. 

He cited a recent incident, where a doctor serving at a civil hospital in Maharashtra’s Dhule district was attacked by a patient’s family. 

In the melee, media professionals who went to cover the event were allegedly attacked by the protesting doctors and their equipment were broken. A group of media professionals who gathered at the venue staged a protest condemning the doctors’ attack inside the hospital premises until reports last came in.