Protesting docs at Hindu Rao hospital meet civic officials

NEW DELHI: Agitating doctors at the Hindu Rao Hospital in north Delhi on Monday asked civic authorities to augment security deployment and set up a police 'chowki' inside the campus. The demands were put forth by the Resident Doctors Association (RDA) during a meeting with civic authorities.

Doctors at the North Delhi Municipal Corporation-run hospital have been protesting since Sunday and had threatened to go on strike after two of their colleagues were allegedly beaten on Saturday night by relatives of a patient who had died at the facility.

"We had threatened to go on a strike from Monday if our demands were no met. But, senior officials of the NDMC met us this afternoon to discus the ongoing situation," said Rahul Chaudhary, president of the hospital's RDA, and claimed, "NDMC officials gave us assurance in writing that our demands will be met". A senior NDMC official said the agitating doctors have decided not to go on strike after the talks.

The clash on Saturday had allegedly broke out between doctors and relatives of a deceased patient at the hospital, the largest and oldest facility run by a civic body here.

One protesting doctor, Abhishek Bhatia, said on Sunday, "As long as this happens, we won't do any work. Only emergency services, and nothing else will be operational. The patient wasn't in good condition, everything was explained, even then 10-15 people came and thrashed the doctor".