250 doctors at Meerut hospital resign after deceased patient’s kin assaults colleague

Meerut: Nearly 250 junior resident doctors at Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial (LLRM) Medical College in Meerut on Tuesday resigned en masse to protest against the institution's alleged failure in ensuring their safety. This comes after a junior resident doctor suffered severe injuries on his head after being allegedly thrashed by an attendant of a deceased patient on Monday night.

Tensions escalated on Tuesday evening when videos surfaced online showing resident doctors physically assaulting and verbally abusing attendants of patients' and vandalising a car.

SP (city) Ayush Vikram Singh said, "A resident doctor was thrashed, leading the Resident Doctors' Association (RDA) to go on strike. The doctors got into confrontations with some attendants when they tried to admit patients to the emergency ward. The doctors didn't allow anyone to enter and thrashed those who didn't comply."

As a result of the strike, emergency services, including NICU, PICU and the labour room, were shut down, forcing patients to seek treatment elsewhere.

On Monday night, a 46-year-old woman, Kavita Singh, who was referred to LLRM after she suffered a cardiac arrest died. "The patient was referred to LLRM from the district hospital in a serious condition. Her condition worsened and she passed away. Her son then attacked a resident doctor, Manish Singh, with an iron wrench, causing severe head injuries," said LLRM principal RC Gupta.

Sudesh Kumari, CMS of district hospital, said, "The patient had undergone an uterus operation. Following surgery, her blood levels dropped and she was referred to LLRM."

Shakshi Singh, president of RDA, said, "Doctors stopped working as soon as the incident came to light. We will not resume work until safety measures are in place. Despite several directions, no one is addressing doctors' safety. When doctor Manish Singh was attacked, he was alone, with no one to help him."

"An FIR was registered following a complaint filed by the institution against two people. We have arrested an accused, Saurabh Sharma, 20. Efforts are on to arrest the main accused," the SP said.