Dr. Rajesh Paswan is a doctor serving at the government hospital in Purnia district, Bihar. One of the patients of Dr. Rajesh Paswan, a woman, died last Friday despite receiving treatment. Triggered by the incident, the family members of the deceased lady attacked the hospital and heinously assaulted the doctor. Following the incident, Dr. Paswan was admitted and treated at AIIMS, Patna. He was discharged on Monday and is recovering at a relative's house, according to reports from the office-bearer of the state IMA.
This assault against a physician has stirred the medicos of the state, and the IMA doctors of the district staged a protest on Saturday to declare their contempt. The Bihar unit of the IMA called for a statewide daylong strike on Monday to register their protest. The vice president of the state Indian Medical Association said that all the physicians practicing in government hospitals, medical colleges, private clinics, and nursing have extended their consent to the protests and will not attend their duty on Tuesday. Even so, emergency medical services in all clinics and hospitals will be unaffected by the strike. Dr. Sunil Kumar, the vice president of the state IMA, had reported the above details of the strike in his press report.
The state IMA claimed that perpetrators of the vicious assault must be duly arrested and punished under the Bihar Medical Services Institution and Person Protection Act, 2011. They also demanded that measures be taken by the legal community to curb such frequent vicious attacks on medical service providers. The state government was duly notified regarding the protest organized by the doctors.
This decision to go on a strike for a day was arrived upon in a meeting conducted earlier at the IMA, according to the former president of the IMA, Dr. Ajay Kumar. This strike was to emphasize that the attack on doctors was vicious and that such heinous crimes should not recur. This statewide strike would hamper the operation of the Bihar hospitals.
(Input from various media sources)
(Rehash/Bharkhavy K V)