Maharashtra govt to deploy cops to prevent attacks on doctors

The state government Thursday informed the Bombay High Court that it would deploy 56 police personnel, including 28 armed police officers and Home Guards, for security of doctors working at public hospitals in Mumbai.

The court asked the government to file an affidavit in this regard. Acting Advocate General Rohit Deo said, “The first batch of trained security personnel will be available from September. In the meantime, we can depute 56 police personnel. They can be deputed seven days after the court orders.” A public interest litigation filed by activist Afaq Mandviya had challenged a strike earlier this year by members of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD). The lawyer for MARD had argued that the government had not yet taken any security measures to protect resident doctors from physical assaults by relatives of ailing patients. The association had also pointed out an incident in which a doctor was allegedly assaulted in Gondia near Nagpur. Orders in this matter are likely to be passed on Friday.