Doctors in Kerala affiliated with the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA), boycotted specialty outpatient department duties across hospitals for an hour on Friday, June 25. This was in protest to the non-arrest of the police official who allegedly attacked a doctor in Alappuzha district. The official is accused of slapping Dr Rahul Mathew, who was working the night shift at the Mavelikkara district hospital, after the former’s mother, a COVID-19 patient, was brought dead to the hospital.
The incident occured on May 14. The police personnel, Abhilash, had brought his coronavirus-positive mother to the hospital early in the morning, after her condition had deteriorated. However, upon examination, it was pronounced that she was brought dead to the hospital. Abhilash accused Dr Mathew of negligence. He later arrived at the hospital with a friend and allegedly verbally abused, slapped and tried to strangle Dr Mathew. Abhilash was on deputation at the Kochi Metro. The Mavelikkara police have booked him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and section 43 of Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention Of Violence And Damage To Property) Act, 2012.
Though he was placed under suspension on June 7, he has not been arrested yet.
"The prime reason for our protest is the manhandling of the doctor (Rahul Mathew). The hospital was not a COVID-19 hospital, yet the doctor had done whatever he should have when the patient was brought. The police personnel purposefully returned to the hospital. His intention was probably to trap the doctor as he came back prepared to shoot videos, to make the doctor beat him back and hence to put him in a spot. The accused still walks free," Dr Santhosh Babu, President of KGMOA Thiruvananthapuram unit, told TNM.
To protest Abhilash’s non-arrest, Dr Mathew reportedly went on leave on Friday. The protest did not affect the functioning of emergency and COVID-19 wards, as well as general OPD sections. "The attacks against doctors have been increasing and there are laws to curb it. But the authorities don't take a stern stand. In this case, a person (police personnel) who ought to give us protection is the accused. It has been more than a week and both the government and the police have taken a stand in helping the accused. Hence we had to go ahead with the protest," KGMOA state Vice-President Shamsudheen told TNM.