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Assam: Railway doctors on Covid-19 duty stage protest against 'attacks,' seek security

Last Updated 12 September 2020, 14:52 IST

Doctors and nurses at the Central hospital of the Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) headquarters in Guwahati staged a protest on Saturday following three alleged assault cases since July by patients and their relatives including a Covid-19 positive person.

Doctors and nurses wore black badges and staged a protest in front of the hospital, which is also catering to Covid-19 positive persons. They demanded action against the accused and better security measures.

"Doctors are repeatedly coming under assault or misbehaviour by patients or their family members due to poor security measures. One Covid-19 positive person tried to attack a lady doctor doing night duty last month with an iron rod when she complained against his drinking. On September 3, a wheel-chair borne doctor Manish Singh was abused and assaulted by Munindra Saikia, a leader of railway employees union when he had come to the hospital with his mother. Saikia even called his goons, who tried to kick the doctor. The atmosphere is becoming insecure as there are only four private security guards manning such a big hospital," one of the doctors told DH on Saturday.

"They even abused Singh for being physically handicapped. One of them even threatened to murder him," said the doctor.

Singh lodged an FIR seeking action against Saikia and his aides but no steps have been taken by police so far against the accused, the doctor said. Singh also posted the CCTV footages of the incident on his Facebook account showing the misbehaviour by Saikia.

The hospital caters to the employees of NFR headquarters and their family members apart from other patients. At least 120 beds have been allocated to Covid-19 positive patients and nearly 100 such patients are still admitted in the hospital. At least 22 doctors, half of them women are now looking after the Covid-19 positive persons in the hospital.

"It is becoming insured for the doctors, particularly for the women doctors and nurses. We have been trying our best to take care of the Covid-19 positive persons despite the fear and risk of being infected. But it feels very disheartening if we are abused and attacked like this. The NFR has not yet enhanced security despite our requests," the doctor said.

When asked by DH, chief public relations officer of NFR, Subhanan Chanda said he was aware of only one incident. "Departmental enquiry into the incident is being conducted by railways and appropriate action against the defaulters will be taken based on the outcome of the enquiry," he said.

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(Published 12 September 2020, 12:44 IST)

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