Day 2: Striking private docs in Kanpur demand security

The doctors’ associations have asked the authorities to take initiatives to ensure safety for private doctors and clinic staff.

On a complaint filed by Dr Gupta,Kalyanpur police has registered a case against unidentified persons on the charges of damaging property,resorting to violence and disrupting the law and order situation

A group of unidentified persons had attacked Dr Gupta and ransacked his clinic in the Old Shivli Road area under Kalyanpur police station. In the violence,Dr Gupta sustained injuries in head,hand and chest region.

Dr Gupta told police that Kalyanpur resident Amit Agnihotri (21) who was suffering from dengue,was brought to his clinic on September 21. After noticing no improvement in Agnihotri’s health,Dr Gupta referred him to Lala Lajpat Rai (LLR) hospital.

When his condition did not improve there also,Agnihotri’s family members shifted him to another private hospital,where he died on Friday night.

Dr Gupta said that some unidentified persons thrashed him and his staff on Friday night alleging that Agnihotri died because of some wrong injection administered by him. “As I could not identify any of the assailants,I have registered a case against unidentified persons,” he added.

DIG,Kanpur,Prem Prakash said: “An FIR has been lodged and some of the relatives of Agnihotri have been brought to the police station for interrogation.”

Meanwhile,taking a serious note of the issue,both IMA and Kanpur Nursing Home Association have announced an indefinite strike.

The president of the Kanpur Nursing Home Association,Dr Rajan Luthra,said: “In the past,too,several incidents of violence were reported in different private hospitals of Kanpur,and on each occasion the hospital staff was made the scapegoat.”

He said a delegation of private doctors will soon meet the Divisional Commissioner,District Magistrate,and Deputy Inspector General of Kanpur to discuss the issue with them.

The president of IMA,Dr A C Agarwal,said: “Frequent incidents of violence are a major concern for us.” He said steps should be taken by the district administration to provide safety to private hospitals and their staff.