Doctors Strike Work in Delhi's Hindu Rao Hospital Following Assault

Protesting against the assault and physical violence inflicted by the relatives of a deceased patient, the doctors at Hindu Rao hospital in Delhi suspended their duties and went on strike on Monday, July 1. The latest incident comes days after a week-long nationwide strike of doctors demanding safer environment for work and stricter measures against culprits of such attacks. The suspended services affected daily services severely.

A senior resident doctor said that the junior doctors of Hindu Rao Hospital have gone on mass leave until they will be given proper security. Today, these doctors did not work in the Out Patient Department (OPD) and also threatened to stop emergency services. Explaining about the incident, Dr. Piyush Singh said, “Rajbala (45) was brought with stage V renal failure at 10:30 PM at the hospital. Doctors had prescribed her dialysis three times a week. Since she was critical, her situation was explained to her relatives. Soon, the patient died. The doctor who was about to sign the death certificate of the patient was attacked by a crowd of relatives. While the senior doctors received head injuries, another junior doctor suffered from external injuries and was treated at the hospital.”

The attack on doctors at the hospital exposes the crumbling health care system in hospitals run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. A doctor who requested anonymity told NewsClick, "The longer hours of waiting and lack of facilities frustrate both doctors as well as patients. How will you treat a patient when you do not have enough medicines? Chronic unavailability of anti-rabies vaccines is the latest example of crisis in the hospitals.”

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A research paper written by Neeraj Nagpal, Convenor of Medicos Legal Action Group suggests that the consistent starving of funds and facilities for the government sector hospitals has resulted in a situation which has left doctors over-worked and patients frustrated.

The paper reads, "Among other causes of violence against doctors in India are the pathetic conditions in which patients are treated in government hospitals. There is overcrowding, long waiting time to meet doctors, absence of a congenial environment, multiple visits to get investigations done as well as consult doctors, sharing a bed by two and sometimes three patients and poor hygiene and sanitation. There is frustration with systemic problems of government hospitals, from dysfunctional equipment to shortage of staff. Given the poor budgetary allocation for health in India, these problems are unlikely to change."