Safdarjung Hospital doctors demand extra security

NEW DELHI: Nearly 1,500 resident doctors at Safdarjung Hospital went on strike on Thursday after a female patient assaulted a doctor in the Gynaecology ward, crippling emergency services. They withdrew the strike after the Health Ministry assured them extra security.A delegation of Resident Doctors Association (RDA) met Additional Secretary (Health) Sanjeeva Kumar, who promised that an additional 100 security guards would be deployed for the safety of doctors' inside the sprawling government-run hospital in south Delhi.The strike began earlier in the day, after a woman patient allegedly assaulted a resident doctor on Wednesday evening.

Emergency services were affected at the hospital from Wednesday evening, as doctors announced they would go on strike.Consequently, patients were turned away from the Emergency gate by security guards."On Wednesday, around 2.30 pm, a 30-year-old patient assaulted a woman doctor in the antenatal clinic in the OPD alleging that her treatment was being delayed," RDA president Dheer Singh claimed."Such incidents have become a routine here. We demand our security be increased to check such attacks. There should be a balance in the doctor patient ratio. We will be on an indefinite strike until our demands are met," Dr Singh said, before the strike was revoked.An FIR has also been filed at the Safdarjung Enclave police station in connection with the incident.