Hyderabad: Doctors continue to protest at Gandhi Hosp. after patient's kin beat up staff

Doctors continued to protest in Hyderabad's Gandhi hospital on Thursday, boycotting their duties in the state run COVID-19 care hospital for the second day. The doctors have been protesting since Tuesday evening after a junior doctor was beaten up by a deceased patient's relatives. 

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Doctors continue protests 

"The doctors have not attended the patients since Tuesday night. The health minister had arrived after 24 hours of the protest. We have given a letter to the Superintendent of Gandhi Hospital. We will protest unless our demands are fulfilled," a doctor told ANI.  

Navyadeep, President of the Junior doctor association said, "At this COVID hospital, we are risking our lives and saving patients and the people are beating us. This is not fair and this has been happening for quite some time. We don't want to get away from our duty."

The doctors have now demanded police deployment that would guarantee their protection. "Junior doctors are protesting after a doctor was manhandled. We will discuss the situation with the students. The honourable minister is inquiring about the situation from time to time," said Raja Rao, Superintendent of Gandhi Hospital.

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Many of the protesting doctors held placards that read, 'We Want Justice,' 'We Condemn the Attack', Increase Security and 'Save Doctors', among others, PTI reported. A protesting doctor told reporters that a doctor on duty was attacked by some attendants of a patient with a chair after the patient collapsed and passed away in a washroom.

The patient could not be revived through resuscitation and the attendant attacked the doctor when the latter was explaining the situation to him, he alleged. "A metal chair was also thrown at the duty doctor, he said. The patient was not supposed to move out of the bed in view of his condition," he said.

The Police has arrested two people and registered a case under the IPC and under relevant sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act and Telangana Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions Act 2008. "Under any circumstances, the attack on medical staff will not be tolerated and firm and legal action will be taken," police said adding: "In this time, doctors are our frontline leaders." 

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(Image credits: ANI)