Striking LNJP doctors demand greater security, after incident of alleged assault

Following the alleged assault on a female doctor by a relative’s patient, striking doctors at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP) on Friday, have demanded an increase in security presence on the hospital premises.  

The strike call by the Doctors Association of LNJP hospital, which includes 700 resident doctors, have put many patients in trouble. 

Mohammad Haasni, who was at the hospital to get his nine-year-old son treated, said, ‘The doctors are not attending to patients in the wards, OPDs or anywhere. I came here at 7.30 am on Friday for early treatment, which could have saved time, but I was not allowed to enter the hospital. Then after waiting for four hours, at 11.30 am, I was finally allowed to enter the hospital.’ 

‘When I went in, I found only the administrative officials on duty. I could not see a single doctor inside the hospital. Then I was asked by hospital officials to wait till the senior doctors come in’, he added.

Another patient Raju Kumar, who had come in from Ghaziabaad for his wife’s treatment said, ‘I have been repeatedly coming to the hospital for my wife’s treatment for the past few days, but the doctors have not been attending to her.’

Defending the strike, however, one of the resident doctors said, ‘Such incidents are not new. Even last year, an intern was beaten up by the patient’s relative and a post-graduate doctor became the victim of something similar a year before that. CCTV cameras were installed after that but they remain dysfunctional. No one from the senior staff has even bothered to meet the victim after the incident.’ 

The doctors said the strike will not be called off unless their grievances are addressed.