Mumbai Marathon 2020: Participant raises concern over attacks on doctors

In a bid to raise the issue of violence against doctors, a participant of the 17th edition of the Tata Mumbai Marathon which was organised on Sunday came dressed as an assaulted doctor. He also demanded protection of doctors from attacks by patients and their families.

Abhijeet Prabhu, the participant who is a doctor by profession, said that doctors are just human beings and they try their level best to save the patients' lives.

"At the end of the day, I am a doctor, a human just like you and not god. I have taken a pledge to save lives, not to take lives. Last time, I participated in the marathon as a cancer patient and before that, I took part as a blood donor. I focus on a thing which is the need of the day," he told the media.

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During the Mumbai Marathon, other participants also took the opportunity to spread awareness on various social issues like acid attacks on women and increase in pollution.

Doctors protest against assault

Attacks on doctors by relatives of patients have increased manifold in last few years. Recently, doctors of Mumbai staged a protest in the city's Nair Hospital after two doctors were allegedly attacked by the relatives of a patient, who died on January 11.

Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) President Dr Kalyani Dongre said that the patient, a 13-year-old boy, had been admitted to the hospital for the past one month. When his condition became severe on Saturday, the doctor advised putting the patient on a ventilator. The relatives allegedly denied permission to do so, and the patient passed away that morning. \

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The child's death led to an attack by his relatives and two doctors, namely Dr Prajwal Chandra and Dr Kartik Asutkar, suffered some injuries.

After the incident, the doctors of Nair hospital staged a protest, seeking action against the attackers, adequate security measures for the doctor and wards, an increase in manpower, fixed visiting hours of patients, and councillors for patients' relatives.

Ramesh Bharwal, Dean of the hospital, said that the hospital has filed an FIR against the attackers. The police have registered a case under Sections 353, 332, 323 of IPC and the Medical Practitioners' Act against the patient's father. Further investigation is going on.

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In the month of June last year, a junior doctor was attacked by the family of a patient who died in a hospital in Kolkata. After the incident, junior doctors at NRS Medical College and Hospital demanded assurance of safety. The doctors of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) demanded a strict law against individuals who engage in violence with medical practitioners.

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(With inputs from ANI)