MP Civil surgeon attacked by patient's kin, Doctors condemn assault

Panna: Doctors of the district hospital in Madhya Pradesh's Panna, who had struck work to protest an attack on the civil surgeon by an accident victim's family, called off their agitation, an official said. 

A relative of an accident victim who was declared dead at the hospital allegedly slapped the civil surgeon on the night of September 3, following which the doctors went on an indefinite strike, he said.

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The protest had crippled the services at the district hospital and after an assurance by senior officials about deploying adequate security, the agitation was called off, the official said.

A video of the incident also surfaced on social media.

An FIR was registered in the matter three days after the incident in Kotwali police station, while a case under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was also registered against five doctors, which further compounded the problem, the official said.

The decision to end the strike was taken after a meeting of doctors with the senior officials including the collector, superintendent of police, and regional medical director.

Doctors have resumed their duties after detailed discussions about their demands, Panna collector Sanjay Mishra said.

CCTV cameras will be installed in doctors' chambers and till a private agency is engaged, the police will maintain security at the hospital, he added.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that terming Rs 100 per day stipend as "insulting", around 140 MBBS interns belonging to Lata Mangeshkar Hospital, Nagpur (LMH) and NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences had resorted to strike. The doctors, who have withdrawn their services and opted for peaceful sit-in-dharna to raise their voice, are demanding a "respectable stipend" since they are claiming that their present stipend of Rs 3000 per month is lower than the salary paid to the daily wage workers and unskilled labourers.

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