40 Assam doctors flee hospitals after threats
Doctors of various civil hospitals have fled from Assam’s Kokrajhar district after being served with extortion notices by the anti-talk faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).
Official sources said all the 30 doctors of the Rupnath Brahma Kokrajhar Civil Hospital and ten belonging to the Gossaigaon Civil Hospital left after being served with extortion notices demanding payment of Rs 1 lakh.
The deadline for coughing up the money ends Sunday.
Reoreva Narziary, executive member of the department of health of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), have appealed to the doctors to join duty in view of the inconvenience caused to the patients.
Assuring security, he said it was unfortunate that the doctors have fled without prior information to authorities.
The anti-talk faction of the NDFB had served the notices through mobile phones for payment of Rs one lakh from each doctor by today or face “dire consequences”.
Meanwhile the police claimed there was no “direct evidence” of the extortion demand but admitted that tapping of mobile network had revealed that threat was issued from somewhere near the Indo-Bhutan border.
Police assured adequate security to the doctors but so far none of them has turned up for duty.
