Viral Video: BJ Medical College Ophthalmology Resident Doctors Assaulted by Patient's Kin

Ahmedabad: In another incident of violence against doctors, two resident doctors belonging to the BJ Medical College's M & J Institute of Ophthalmology, yesterday were assaulted by a relative of a patient after an altercation took place concerning the date of Cataract surgery.

The accused, who is the son of the patient, became aggressive after being informed that the date of surgery, which was scheduled to be conducted on 16.03.2024, got postponed. 

After hitting two resident doctors, the accused also attacked the security guard. Police reached the spot after being informed about the incident and arrested the accused. An Institutional FIR has also been lodged in the matter, a resident doctor at the medical college informed Medical Dialogues.

The incident took place yesterday when the patient was called for a pre-operative check-up for his cataract surgery scheduled on 16.03.2024. While the patient was called to report at around 7-7.30 AM, he came to the hospital at 11 AM. By that time, the consultant doctor had checked all the patients and the list had also been finalised. 

Therefore, when the patient and his son approached the Junior Doctor on duty, they were informed about the postponement of the operation. The doctor informed them that a new date for surgery would be given. 

Although initially the patient and his son left the place, the accused came back after some time and questioned the 2nd year resident doctor on duty to confirm for the last time if the surgery would be conducted on Saturday or not.

The doctor confirmed the postponement of the surgery and following this, the accused became aggressive and slapped the doctor. Immediately, a First year Junior doctor, who was present at the place came to the aid of the 2nd year PG medico and he was also assaulted by the accused. 

Thereafter, the accused also attacked the security guard. Soon, the CCTV footage of the incident became viral on the social media platforms. Meanwhile, police reached the spot after getting information about the matter and arrested the accused. An Institutional FIR was also lodged in this connection.

Speaking to Medical Dialogues, a resident doctor at the institute informed, "We talked to the Director of the institute and requested him to take steps to ensure that such an incident does not happen again. He informed us that posters displaying the penal action taken for violence against doctors would be put up in the OPD. He also assured to increase the security if necessary."

The doctor further informed that the Director has assured to take proper steps to take care of the situation and he has asked the resident doctors to submit their representation highlighting the demands in this regard.

Meanwhile, sharing the video of the incident, JDA BJMC mentioned in an X (formerly Twitter) post, "Second incident today in M & J institute of Opthalmology. Where live you can see how relative slapped the doctor and assaulted in front of patients."

The issue was also raised by the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) which highlighted the issue of violence against doctors at BJMC, Ahmedabad and also at Assam HAMM (Haji Abdul Majid Memorial Hospital & Research Centre). In case of HAMM, Assam, a doctor was allegedly assaulted and he filed and Institutional FIR after this. The accused also filed an FIR, however, the doctor got arrested and was finally released on bail.

Sharing these two incidents, FORDA mentioned in an X post, "Assam and Gujarat are two far ends of India, but what is common across the length and breadth of our nation? 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬! The first video is from #BJMC Ahmedabad-𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝟐 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 & 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧 in front of hundreds of mute spectators. The second and third photo are from #Assam, Hojai. A doctor was allegedly assaulted, he filed an institutional FIR- the accused also filed an FIR. Result? 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝! Such a shameful state of security for #Indian doctors."

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