A day of protests marked the beginning of the week as students, Government employees and women workers of a supermarket took to the streets for their respective causes and kept the police force on their toes through the day.
College students across Puducherry boycotted their classes on Monday demanding action against the doctor who was allegedly responsible for the death of a third year B.Com student of Bharathidasan Government College for Women.
On July 22, twenty-year-old Deepa who was treated at Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital in Kathirkamam died allegedly due to medical negligence. Demanding immediate action against the doctor who was allegedly responsible for the girl’s death, students from all the government colleges and a few private colleges gathered at Indira Gandhi Statue. They took out a rally till the bus stand.
A resident of Lawspet in Puducherry, Deepa had complained of fever last Friday and took her mother to the hospital. She explained the doctor about her health issues. It is alleged that the doctor on duty had provided medicines that significantly dropped her pulse rate. Later, they had called the girl’s father to get medicines from a pharmacy outside the hospital since the government hospital did not have a stock of those medicines. The girl passed away immediately after the medicine was injected. The parents complained that the doctor was in an inebriated state and the girl passed away due to medical negligence. When the hospital director was informed, he immediately held an enquiry and removed the doctor from service.
Representatives of Pondicherry Union Territory Students’ Federation stated that many people are losing lives due to medical negligence in government hospitals and that government need to conduct a proper enquiry to address these issues. Deepa’s father was a daily wage labourer. Hailing from an economically backward section, she was the only person in her family to pursue higher education. Her brothers had dropped out of school to support the family and her education. The protesting students demanded that the government provide a compensation of Rs. 10 lakh to the victim’s family.
On MG Road, about 54 staff of Amudhasurabhi Co-operative Supermarket staged protest in front of their office on Monday. The staffs were removed from service without any notice. They demanded the government give back their jobs immediately. “We were removed from the service stating that the job of distributing mixer and grinder was over. After the distribution, we have worked for nearly eight months in the supermarket. It is unjust to remove us from work,” said Bheemraj, a staff of Amudhasurabhi Cooperative Supermarket. Meanwhile, the retrenched employees of PWD continued their protest seeking reinstatement taking out a rally to the Assembly on Monday. As many as 140 employees of the PWD were retrenched on the directions of the Election Commission of India.
