Relatives of a patient, who died undergoing treatment, roughed up doctors and nurses in the Raiganj Medical College and Hospital in North Dinajpur district today afternoon. The irate group also ransacked the medicine ward of the hospital.
After being informed, a large contingent of police led by Raiganj police station Inspector in-charge Suraj Thapa reached the spot and brought the situation under control. The incident comes close on the heels of an incident at the NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata where a junior doctor was brutally assaulted. The incident led to massive protests from junior doctors, which paralysed the health sector in the state for several days, until the state government agreed to look into the safety and security issues of doctors working in government hospitals.
A source at the Raiganj hospital said that Bhabani Sarkar, 62, a resident of Majhiwari village within Kushmandi police station limits in South Dinajpur district, was admitted in the hospital with fever and breathing problems in the afternoon yesterday.
patient party to take the patient to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri as his condition was serious. However, the relatives were not willing to take the patient there. He died in the afternoon today,” the source said.
“The relatives of the deceased then barged into the medicine ward and beat up doctors and some nurses there. They also broke the furniture and window panes of the medicine ward,” the source added.
The son of the deceased, Nirmal Sarkar, claimed that his father died due to lack of proper treatment.
The Assistant Principal of the Raiganj Medical College & Hospital, Dr Surajir Mukherjee, said, “We have filed a complaint at the Raiganj police station against the attack on our doctors and nursing staff.”
The Superintendent of Police of North Dinajpur, Sumit Kumar, said police have started investigations into the incident.