On-duty doctor attacked by drunk patient at Thalassery general hospital

Thiruvananthapuram: In an alleged case of violence against an on-duty doctor, a 48-year-old car accident survivor abused and assaulted a woman doctor at a government hospital in Kerala's Kannur district, following which the police arrested the accused on Monday.  

Police said the man assaulted the doctor at the Thalassery general hospital, where he had come for treatment after a car accident at around 2 am on Monday. 

They said he was arrested based on the complaint filed by the doctor at the general hospital. 

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"The accused attacked the doctor while she was examining him. He reached the hospital to get treatment after a car accident. He suffered a fracture to his ribs," police said.

Police said the accused, who was drunk, got angry after the doctor applied pressure to his chest as part of the diagnosis. Following this, he attacked the doctor and physically assaulted her by hitting her with his bare hands. 

Later, the doctor filed a complaint against the patient at the police station, demanding immediate arrest of him. 

He was arrested soon after and produced before the court, which remanded him to judicial custody. The accused was shifted to the Kozhikode Medical College for further treatment.

As incidents of attacks on doctors were on the rise in the state, the government recently amended the Hospital Protection Act and included stringent penal provisions.

The strict laws were implemented after a woman doctor, Dr Vandana Das, was recently hacked to death by a patient at a government hospital in Kottarakkara in Kollam district.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that a house surgeon at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) in Chennai had been allegedly stabbed in his neck by a patient over an argument, following which nearly 100 house surgeons of the hospital staged a protest demanding round-the-clock security.

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