Police Brutality Shocks Doctors

"The medical fraternity stands absolutely shocked at the sheer display of unprovoked brute force by Delhi Police on our colleagues who have been peacefully protesting in Delhi and many other states since the last one month, with their genuine demand for the immediate declaration of NEET PG 2021 counselling schedule. However, the lathi charge on our resident doctors and manhandling of many female residents by male police personnel during their peaceful demonstration is a pathetic display of the shameless attitude of the authorities, who we could not believe would stoop so low," FAIMA said in an official statement condemning police action.

Medical Dialogues had been reporting about the pan-India agitation by resident doctors over the continuous deferment of NEET PG counselling process and the doctors seeking its expedition.

The protest has been led by junior doctors and resident doctors across the country under the umbrella of the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA), Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) and Resident Doctors Association (RDA) with the strong support from various medical organizations including the Indian Medical Association (IMA).

Black Day: Protest and Police Brutality

On December 27th, taking the demonstration to another level, the resident doctors of several hospitals staged a march towards the Supreme Court and near Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital.

The doctors were further seen singing the National Anthem at the protest.

The Delhi Police personnel, however, halted the march and began clearing the protest site. They forcibly put protesting doctors on buses that were to be taken to unspecified locations. Female medics were manhandled by male police personnel, several doctors alleged amid loud sloganeering.

In several statements condemning police action, the doctors have claimed "police brutality" and called it a "Black day in the history of the medical fraternity".

FORDA has stated that resident doctors were protesting "peacefully" and alleged that they were "brutally thrashed, dragged and detained by the cops."

"We were detained at Sarojini Nagar police station. After discussion, we have decided to continue our protest from Safdarjung Hospital until our demands are met… Considering night curfew, we returned to Safdarjung. We will continue our protest from there," Dr Kul Saurabh Kaushik, the general secretary of the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA), was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

"We strongly condemn this brutality of the police and the insensitivity of the government towards the medical fraternity and demands immediate release of all the detained doctors, with an apology from the government and the police," AIIMS RDA wrote to Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday.

AIIMS Resident Doctors Association in its official statement said, "By brutally thrashing and detaining the doctors, the Government and Police have reached a new low. The medical fraternity has shown exemplary sacrifice for the sake of this nation at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic was running a carnage… The same workforce feels backstabbed and betrayed by the duplicity of the lawmakers and the police on the issue of NEET counselling. Today's incident will be seen as an enormous blow to the zeal and enthusiasm of the medical fraternity in their fight against COVID. Hence it should be labelled as a Black-Day for the entire nation."

FIR against Doctors:

According to the ANI report, the Delhi Police has claimed that a total of seven of its personnel were injured during the protest of resident doctors near ITO.

Later, the Police registered an FIR under section 188 and other sections for causing obstruction in the duty of police personnel, and damaging public property.

Speaking to the Indian Express, Additional DCP (Central district) Rohit Meena said, "They came to protest and tried to stop the traffic movement. We tried to stop them and they then started marching towards the Supreme Court. We again stopped them after discussing with them. Seven police personnel received minor injuries and they have damaged two buses as well."

Complete Shutdown

In response to the alleged "brutality" of the Police and the insensitivity of the Government towards the medical fraternity, the doctors have called for a strike on December 29 including the shutdown of all healthcare services if no "adequate" response from the government is received over alleged police brutality in the protest march.

The medicos have also demanded immediate release of all the doctors detained with unconditional apology from the government and the police.

In its official statement, FAIMA calling for complete withdrawal from all healthcare services across the country from 29/12/21 in protest against police brutality towards doctors in Delhi and for immediate declaration of NEET PG 2021 counselling schedule said, "The medical fraternity stands absolutely shocked at the sheer display of unprovoked brute force by Delhi Police on our colleagues who have been peacefully protesting in Delhi and many other states since the last one month, with their genuine demand for the immediate declaration of NEET PG 2021 counselling schedule. However, the lathi charge on our resident doctors and manhandling of many female residents by male police personnel during their peaceful demonstration is a pathetic display of the shameless attitude of the authorities, who we could not believe would stoop so low."

The association has demanded immediate suspension of all police personnel at whose directions force was used on the doctors.

Pointing towards the 'barbaric act' by the police, the association further said, "The videos which have surfaced and the stories which have been shared are horrific and makes us question whether we have gone back to the barbaric times, or whether the administration feels like they can do whatever they want to suppress dissent?... We remind the authorities that FAIMA and its associated RDAs had shown great restraint till now and had not stopped emergency services. However the government and the authorities have currently left us with no other option. If the authorities think they can get away with using whatever oppressive means they have at their disposal, they are wrong and it is time for all doctors to show unity and solidarity with our colleagues who have been mercilessly handled, gheraoed, dragged and detained!"

The social media has been flooded with responses post demonstration; some of them include:

Doctors' protest:

The NEET PG exam was scheduled to be held in January 2021 but postponed in view of the first and second wave of COVID-19 and held on September 12, 2021. However, due to the legal impediments of the Supreme Court now the Counselling is withheld resulting in a shortage of doctors on the frontline.