Junior doctors go on flash strike

Mob ransacks Gandhi Hospital and attacks staff following death of youth

HIGH TENSION: The Gandhi Hospital ward which was ransacked by attendantsof a patient who died on Tuesday. Photo: By Arrangement

Junior doctors of Gandhi Hospital went on a flash strike on Tuesday after one of them was allegedly attacked by a mob following the death of a youngster, Sajid, who fell from a water slide in Jal Vihar amusement park, here.

The mob comprising nearly 200 persons barged into the emergency department of the hospital around 5 p.m. and broke window panes, hospital Superintendent S. Mahbob said. “Frightened nurses and lady doctors ran helter-skelter on seeing the rampaging crowd while the policemen present there remained mute spectators,” the Superintendent said.

All the activities in the emergency department came to a halt for a few hours before the authorities roped in senior doctors to restore the services. The junior doctors maintained that they would boycott duties till the officials provide them adequate security.

Sajid (21), a construction worker and resident of Pathan Street in Musheerabad went to Jal Vihar on Necklace Road along with four friends in the afternoon. “We were told that Sajid fell down from the water slide and sustained a contusion on his head before he fell unconscious,” Musheerabad Inspector Md. Riyazuddin said.

The youth was rushed to Gandhi Hospital. “He was brought at 3.10 p.m. and within 10 minutes our team managed to take the ECG and declared he was brought dead,” the Superintendent claimed. According to him, the relatives refused to believe the youngster was dead and took him to Guru Nanak Care Hospital in Musheerabad. The doctors there too pronounced him dead.

After Sajid’s father lodged a complaint with the Musheerabad police, the body was taken to the Gandhi Hospital morgue for autopsy. The youngster’s relatives and friends, who gathered there, went to the emergency department alleging that negligence of the doctors claimed Sajid’s life. They attacked whoever came in their way and damaged the furniture. The Musheerabad police registered a case of rash and negligent act resulting in death against the management of Jal Vihar and another case relating to the attack on doctors and ransacking of the hospital.