Cooper Hospital doctors declare ’emergency strike’ over attack on colleague
The resident doctor was assaulted by a patient’s relatives late last night
Resident doctors of the civic-run Cooper Hospital in Mumbai’s Juhu went on an emergency strike on Monday morning after one of their colleagues was allegedly attacked by a patient’s relatives last night.
According to preliminary information, the doctors are not tending to Out Patient Department (OPD) cases today. However, emergency cases are still being attended to.
Talks between the doctors and management are currently underway.
The strike comes in the backdrop of Sunday’s incident, when the relatives of a 35-year-old patient assaulted a resident doctor after the former was declared brought dead to the hospital.
The patient was reportedly brought to the facility with an altered sensorium last night and succumbed before the doctors could diagnose his condition.
The relatives of the deceased blamed the doctor for the death.
Later, at around 11:30 pm, the group ganged up and assaulted the doctor, a second-year resident from Nair Hospital who was temporarily posted at Cooper Hospital.
Back in May, resident doctors of several civic-run facilities like J J Hospital, Sion Hospital, St George Hospital, GT Hospital and Cama Hospital had gone on strike to protest against a similar assault on two of their colleagues.
The strike continued for four days as doctors remained adamant over their demand for sufficient security at hospitals to protect them against any outrage by patients’ relatives.
The deadlock was resolved after the state assured doctors that 1,100 security guards will be deployed in state hospitals to ensure their safety, along with the installation of a centralised alarm system to alert security personnel when necessary.
