Amid the nationwide call for ensuring the safety of doctors in the wake of the rape and murder at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, a woman junior doctor was attacked by a patient at a hospital in Tirupati. The incident at Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS) was captured by a CCTV camera in the hospital.
The CCTV footage shows the attacker grab the doctor by her hair and bang her head on the steel frame of a hospital bed. Others doctors in the ward immediately come to their colleague’s rescue and the attacker is overpowered and taken away.
In a letter to SVIMS director cum vice-chancellor Dr RV Kumar, the intern said she was on duty in the Emergency Medicine Department on Saturday. “… I was unexpectedly attacked by a patient, Bangaru Raju, who approached me from behind, pulled my hair and began forcibly banging my head against the steel rod of a cot,” she wrote, adding that no security personnel were present at the site to help her.
The incident, she said, raises serious concerns about safety in workplace. “If patient had been armed with a sharp weapon, the situation could have escalated with severe consequences,” the doctor wrote, demanding security measures to ensure safety of staff.
Following the incident, doctors of the hospital staged a protest and demanded safety at workplace.
The incident at the Andhra hospital comes weeks after the chilling rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at Kolkata. The 31-year-old was raped and killed on duty. The incident has sparked massive protests and doctors of several premier institutions across the country took to the streets to demand measures to ensure their safety at work.
The Supreme Court has now set up a 10-member National Task Force to recommend steps to prevent violence against and ensure working conditions for healthcare workers. The court has said the task force would prepare an action plan to prevent gender-based violence and ensure a dignified working space for doctors.
Against this backdrop, the incident at SVIMS, Tirupati, yet again puts under the spotlight the safety of doctors on duty.
