Government health centre staff down second OPD after attack by attendant

DEHRADUN: With the

staff of the community health centre

(CHC) at Lohaghat

shutting down outpatient duty

(OPD) facilities, this is the second incident in a week of government health centres closing the facility after staff were attacked by patients’ attendants in a week.

According to staff working at the CHC, a person misbehaved with the medical superintendent in-charge of the hospital at around 8 pm on Wednesday. The man’s child had a minor injury in the hand and was given treatment by the

emergency medical officer

(EMO) but, not content with the treatment, the man called up the MS to come to the hospital to treat the child.

The MS in-charge of Lohaghat CHC,

Dr Vinod Kumar Joshi

, an

orthopaedic surgeon

, told TOI, “I underwent hip surgery barely a fortnight ago, so I asked the man, Pawan Singh, to bring the patient to my rooms just 50 metres from the CHC. He was offended by this and abused and manhandled me. Despite being on medical leave, on the request of the department I agreed to treat patients. But it is sad if people fail to understand our problems.”

The attendant, however, alleged that his son was not given adequate treatment, which led to the incident. Prior to this, the OPD at the primary health centre (PHC) in Tyuni was closed on Monday after a doctor and staff members were allegedly beaten by villagers.

Condemning the act, former general secretary of the provincial medical health services Dr Naresh Napchyal told TOI, “We have sufficient workforce in the hills’ health centres now. Despite this if villagers treat doctors in this manner, then the commitment of physicians to work in the hills will be shaken. People should realize that doctors are not gods. They too suffer from medical issues. In this incident the doctor himself was unwell. Rather than appreciate that he was still working, the attendant abused him.”

Meanwhile, the hospital staff alleged that the attendant was drunk and was politically connected. Fearing repercussions, the staff shut down the OPD and only emergency services will remain open until the police resolve the matter. An FIR was registered by Joshi against the assailant on Wednesday night at Lohaghat police station.