Punjab: Hoshiarpur Doctors suspend strike for five days after Superintendent of Police assurance

Hoshiarpur: After receiving assurance from the district police for arresting the accused in a few days, who allegedly verbally abused two senior Medical Officers, the medical staff of Hoshiarpur Civil Hospital suspended their strike for five days which initially started on November 14.

The strike was going on for two days shutting down the OPD services till Wednesday when the police assured all the medical staff of arresting the accused responsible for the act in five days.

Therefore, all the employees have suspended their strike for only five days alleging that an indefinite strike will be started from Monday (November 21) once the police fail to arrest the accused within the time period set by the police association.

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Doctors and medical staff of the hospital were in an uproar when two unknown persons allegedly misbehaved and abused Dr Swati and Dr Sunil Bhagat, the senior medical officers of the hospital on Monday.

However, the matter got worse when the hospital staff came to the rescue of the two doctors and the accused also verbally abused them resulting in a protest staged by all the employees including doctors, staff nurses, and paramedical staff.

In an effort to ensure that health workers were not intimidated by such mischievous elements, protesters urged strict action against the perpetrators. They said the dharna will not be stopped until the police force take immediate action.

Civil Surgeon Dr Pritamhinder Singh, Assistant Civil Surgeon Dr Pawan Kumar, District Health Officer Dr LakhvIr Singh and other senior officers reached the protest site and stood by the doctors and their demands.

Earlier, Punjab Civil Medical Officers Association (PCMS) also came in support of the protest and criticised the police association for their lack of concern and taking no action against the matter.

In response to the laxity shown by the police, they said that OPD services at government health centres across the district will be stopped on November 15. They said if strict action was not taken by the police based on the doctor's complaint against the accused then the protest will be intensified.

Following this, a meeting was arranged between the delegation of doctors under the leadership of SMO (in charge) Dr Swati and Superintendent of Police Manpreet Singh Dhillon where Singh promised to nab the culprit soon.

Later, an FIR was registered by the police against the accused under Sections 3 and 4 of the Punjab Protection of Medicare Service Personnel and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damages to Property) Act 2008, reports The Tribune.

Due to the OPD services being at a halt, many patients who visited the district hospitals had to face difficulty and were forced to return back. Since all the employees participated in the protest, no emergency services were functional during the period.

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