Rajawadi doctors on strike, demand arrest of dead patient's relatives

MUMBAI: About 70 resident doctors of Ghatkopar's civic-run Rajawadi Hospital boycotted work on Sunday and said they would not pick up their stethoscopes till the police arrested the relatives of a deceased patient who vandalized the hospital and attacked a doctor on Saturday. This was the second major attack on a municipal hospital in less than a month.As of now, the police have registered a case against four of the relatives.
The Rajawadi resident doctor who was accused of negligence and beaten up by the dead patient's relatives told TOI they had tried to strangle him. "They attacked me with an intention to kill when I had done everything to save the patient. Every step of the treatment is documented. Anyone is free to see there was no negligence," the doctor, who joined the hospital as a general surgery resident two months ago, said.
Relatives of Govandi resident Afzal Akmal Khan went on the rampage when he died after being in ICU for about six hours. He was riding pillion on Haroon Sheikh's motorcycle when they met with an accident on the Eastern Express Highway as Sheikh tried to overtake a trailer. Sheikh died on the spot.
The resident doctor concerned said Khan was in a critical state right from the moment he was admitted. "We tried to resuscitate the patient and I even coordinated with the orthopaedic department as his was a case of polytrauma. Most importantly, his relatives were counselled every 30 minutes and explained about his condition in detail."
The doctor claimed that he was dragged from the ICU till the main gate of the hospital by Khan's relatives, who kicked and punched him. Someone also tried to snatch his mobile phone. "At one point, I gathered my courage and ran for life," he said. "I locked myself up in a room with no lights for three to four hours."
He later came to know that Khan's relatives had kept hurling abuse and tried to hit a nurse with a bucket. The nurse suffered chest trauma, confirmed authorities.
The case in the matter was registered at the Tilak Nagar police station under the Indian Penal Code's sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 427 (causing damage) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace). The police said Khan's family was in grief and so the future course of action would be decided on in a couple of days.
Superintendent of peripheral hospitals Dr Seema Malick condemned the incident and said, "We have lodged a complaint and have cooperated with the police in every way. Such incidents are becoming way too regular and something has to be done to stop them. The ICU, too, has suffered damage."
A doctor from Rajawadi Hospital claimed that security guards were nowhere to be seen. "They came to the scene much later. Most of them are either unfit or badly trained to deal with such situations. Attacks on doctors are quickly forgotten."
Doctors at the hospital are seeking help from the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) to demand strict action against culprits and better working conditions.
With inputs from VV Singh