Violence at PGI! Residents Shut emergency services after assault on doctors

Chandigarh: Emergency services at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) were stalled for around three hours after patient's attendants assaulted the doctors at the facility.

Following the incident, the resident doctors went on strike and announced cease work from 8 pm till around 11.30 pm yesterday. Later, the protest was called off after the Director of PGI Prof Vivek Lal visited the doctors. 

These incidences of assaults occurred twice in the evening and late at night in separate emergency areas, TOI has reported. The first of these two incidents occurred at around 7 PM, when a patient's relatives reportedly broke the window panes of the the emergency ward at Nehru Hospital.

These relatives were accompanying a 50-year-old patient who was admitted to the emergency surgery OPD at Nehru Hospital on Sunday night with a complaint of acute intestinal obstruction and septic shock.

Also Read: On-duty doctor allegedly assaulted by patient's attendants at Jaipur hospital

As per the latest media report by the Times of India, the patient's condition worsened and the doctors had informed the relatives of the bleak chances of survival. Even though the patient was put on Ventilator, the patient eventually succumbed. After the patient's death, three women and two men allegedly created disturbance by throwing objects around the area and breaking the windowpane of the ward. Recounting the incident, a resident doctor told the Daily, "I was also threatened as relatives claimed that I had killed the patient."

Until the arrival of the quick response team, the doctor was reportedly surrounded by the relatives of the patient. Following the incident, the resident doctor filed a written complaint with the Medical Superintendent demanding to lodge an FIR.

The other incident of violence took place more than an hour later, when an on-call woman doctor was allegedly manhandled by another lady attendant of a patient at the emergency medical OPD of Nehru Hospital. Sources informed TOI that the female attendant accused the doctors of neglecting the patient and allegedly pushed the doctor in a fit of rage, following which she fell down.

Hindustan Times has reported that when the senior resident from the medicine department was attending to a female patient in the emergency ward, the attendant of the patient, who claims to be a social media creator, was allegedly shooting some videos inside the ward. She was speaking of her dissatisfaction with various issues including the issue of sanitation, This allegedly led to an altercation.

Reportedly, an argument eventually broke between her brother and the doctor after which one of the attendants allegedly physically assaulted and slapped the doctor. The attendance livestreamed, in which she was seen abusing the doctors.

Following this, the resident doctors' association rallied to assist the senior resident and shut down operations in the emergency OPD till they received assurance that an institutional FIR would be filed against the patient's attendant. Meanwhile, the PGI administration has asked the Sector 12 police to file an institutional FIR. Commenting on the matter, an official spokesperson of the PGI said that there was a ruckus over a minor incident resulting in manhandling.

"On October 7, 2024, around 8. 40pm, an altercation occurred between a resident doctor and an attendant in Hall C of the Emergency Complex, briefly disrupting services. The incident was promptly reported to the PGI Police Post, Sector 12, with a request for filing an institutional FIR against the attendant of the patient," the PGI spokesperson mentioned in a statement.

Meanwhile, with the doctors on strike, the emergency ward was left in chaos and the attendants of critically ill patients were seen pleading for help while no doctors were available to respond.

The situation worsened further when the health condition of a 30-year-old female patient, who had been undergoing treatment in the emergency ward for several days, deteriorated rapidly, HT has reported. As her vitals began to fall, her family blamed the lack of timely intervention from the doctors for her deteriorating health. Even though minutes later, the patient was put on a ventilator, her condition remained critical.

Later at night, the Director of PGI, Dr. Vivek Lal confirmed that the strike had been called off, adding that "Things are normal and under control. The doctors are back to service.

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