Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar has urged resident doctors to call off their strike as soon as possible failing which action will be taken against them. 
To avert recurring attacks on resident doctors 400 police personnel will be deployed for offering security to doctors in the state from Saturday onwards which will be increased to 700 with effect from April 1. Moreover, alarm system will be installed in the hospitals to avert possibility of attacks against doctors. A cap has also been imposed on the number of visitors meeting patients in the hospital. Meanwhile, Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar has urged resident doctors to call off their strike as soon as possible failing which action will be taken against them. More than 4,000 resident doctors in the state’s government hospitals stayed away from duty to protest the incidents of attack on their colleagues, affecting the public healthcare system.
Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar said, “We have taken a decision to enhance the security of resident doctors and they should not worry about their safety and perform their duties to the best of their abilities. Patients are facing severe hardships after doctors had gone on strike.”
State Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan said, “A committee has been formed to look into the issue of providing security to resident doctors. Around 1,100 police personnel will be deployed outside hospitals. We have taken steps to avert the incidents of attack on resident doctors. The attacks on resident doctors are unfortunate and assailants should not be spared.”
“Yesterday two police personnel were posted at the hospital but today no personnel was found. We will call off the strike if security to resident doctors is enhanced,” said a doctor from Sion hospital on the condition of anonymity.
The issue also came up before the Bombay High Court with an activist filing a petition seeking a direction to the doctors to report to work immediately.
Santosh Andhale, a senior health reporter said, “Why is there a rise in incidents of attacks on resident doctors? Patient’s relatives are many times uneducated and sometimes they attack doctors if they fail to save patient’s lives. The government must take steps to beef up the security of resident doctors.”
At most of the hospitals, some senior resident doctors looked after the daily health check-ups of the patients, an official of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) said.
The emergency services were, however, not affected due to the doctors’ protest, he added. The doctors did not report to work to protest the two recent incidents — one in Dhule and another at the Sion hospital in Mumbai — where relatives of patients attacked the respective doctors in-charge.
“There are a couple of long-pending demands from the state government, including higher wages and more security at the government hospitals,” a senior MARD official said on condition of anonymity.
“Both the demands have not been addressed to our satisfaction. Hence, we get attacked frequently and the state authorities fail to address the issue,” he added.
Dr Rohit Kumar, a resident doctor at Sion Hospital, was beaten up by the relatives of a patient who died. A compliant was registered in the incident, with the Mumbai police and three accused have been arrested. Dr Rahul Mhamunkar of Dhule Civil Hospital was assaulted by the relatives of a patient after he referred the patient to another facility.
