In another incidence of violence against doctors, around 40 people assaulted and attempted to abduct a doctor from a private hospital in Mangaluru after a 65-year-old patient died on Tuesday.
Dr Abhijit Shetty, an Assistant Professor at the Yenepoya Medical College and Hospital, was assaulted by angry relatives of the deceased.
According to an official at the Hospital, located at Deralakatte in Mangaluru, was admitted to the hospital on Monday at around 4 pm after suffering a cardiac arrest. The patient was said to have been put on a ventilator and succumbed at 10.30 pm on the same day when all treatments failed.
Angry relatives allegedly barged into the hospital and proceeded to assault Dr Abhijit.
“They were beating Dr Abhijit brutally while dragging him from the sixth floor of the hospital all the way down to the main gate. A nurse, who tried to stop these people, was also beaten and pushed away,”the official said.
The mob did not stop at only assaulting the doctor but once they reached the hospital’s main gate, they allegedly shoved Dr Abhijit into a van and drove away.
Cautious doctors and a few other staff members followed the van in which Dr Abhijit was being taken for about 8 km and intercepted them at Ullal.
“There were five men in the car including Dr Abhijit. While the driver escaped when the van was intercepted, the other three men were cornered by the hospital staff. They kept them waiting until the Ullal Police showed up,” the official added.
Ullal police arrested the three men--Asif, Naufal and Uwais, and are still looking for the absconding driver.
The doctors at the Deralakatte hospital have filed a complaint with the Ullal police and an FIR has been registered.
“As of now, a case of assault and attempted kidnap has been filed. Investigation is still on,” the Ullal police said.
Recurring attacks on doctors has become a cause for concern, as this attack follows a series of other such attacks on doctors in government hospitals across Karnataka since January.
In March, doctors, under the banner of the Indian Medical Association, had held a silent protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Dharwad. The protesting doctors said that they had to live with the constant fear of being attacked by relatives of patients.
On January 1, the relatives of an accident victim, who was severely injured, attacked house surgeons and doctors at Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences.
In the Chigateri hospital in Davangere, three PG doctors were attacked by the family members of a four-month-old baby, who had died.
An irate mob attacked a doctor on March 20 in Malur alleging negligence, which led to the death of their two-month-old baby.
Responding to the attack Dr Roshan Radhakrishnan, an anaesthesiologist, took to Facebook to express his outrage saying, “And more and more doctors (even seniors) are now turning away serious patients to save their own skin. Today, that means nothing to you. Tomorrow that may be the person you love. And then, one of two things will occur - A) you will either realize why we have been begging you to listen to our pleas or B) your anger at losing your loved one will turn you into the mob that will attack me. No. I and my colleagues in the medical fraternity do not need to introspect. Not in the face of violence. If you can only appear in mobs to instigate violence but not to donate blood for them when they can still be saved, then it is time for you to introspect, not me.”