Rajawadi docs on strike after patient, kin thrash colleague

While the emergency ward at Rajawadi Hospital continued to function on Tuesday, the other wards — surgery, casualty, gynaecology and orthopaedic — did not have doctors to monitor patients. Doctors at the hospital have also threatened to go on a full-fledged strike from Wednesday, which will lead to almost a total shut-down of the hospital that receives more than 1,000 patients daily.

According to Rajawadi’s medical superintendent, Dr M Wadiwala, four people, including the patient, hit 23-year-old Dr Gaurav Hansalkar from the surgery ward after they were asked to wait before he could attend to them.

“I am trying to convince the doctors to resume work as it is affecting the hospital’s services. Currently, only the emergency ward is functioning,” he said.

Dr Santosh Wakchaure, president of Medical Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), said, “We will make sure action is taken against the patient and his relatives.”

An FIR was registered on Tuesday, said Dr Kundan Kharde of Rajawadi Hospital.

The suspects have been booked under the Maharashtra Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage of Property) Act, 2010. If convicted, they can be imprisoned for three years or fined Rs 50,000.

“The patient had suffered an injury on his hand in another fight,” Kharde said.

This is the third incident in less than a month in which a resident doctor in the state was assaulted. The first incident took place in Solapur’s Civil Hospital on December 31, when Dr Prashant Patil was beaten up by three policemen, the second incident was at Kolhapur’s Chhatrapati Pramila Raje (CPR) hospital on January 4 after a patient’s relatives hit the casualty medical officer Dr Vijay Patil.

According to Wakchaure, the three policemen in involved in the Solapur case have been remanded in judicial custody till January 17, while the investigation into the second incident is underway.

tabassum.barnagarwala@expressindia.com