80 doctors allegedly team up to assault patient's attendants at SMCH; VP says they attacked the doctors first

On Friday morning when Sonai resident, Fakrul Islam Laskar went with his father for a checkup at the OPD of the hospital, they, allegedly encountered irrational behaviour from the Medical team, something that is being highlighted more often than ever. Fakrul Islam Laskar’s father is a senior citizen, went to the hospital with a heart condition. While he was undergoing a checkup at the OPD, a nurse drew blood for examination and when the bleeding didn’t stop, the mother went to the nurse and complained about the same. The mother and son duo alleged that the nurse didn’t listen to the patient’s complaint and therefore they went to the doctors, who too refused to hear them, which started an argument. What followed this argument is rather unfortunate.

Fakrul Islam Laskar, who was the attendant to the patient said, “I came to SMCH with my father today at the Emergency ward and reported my father’s condition to two doctors on duty. They asked us to get a blood test done and accordingly the nurse came to collect blood from my father. After the needle was drawn out, I could see the bleeding continue and so my mother said to the nurse to do it slowly as my father is already a patient with a heart condition. When she said so, the nurse flared up. Later I went to the doctors on duty to say that there was blood loss, the doctor in turn said that we were misbehaving with them and the nurse, whereas I just said there was bleeding. They started to treat us in a very rude way. When I asked what their names were, they denied a reply and said what will I do with that (tu kya kar lega?)”.

Later when the attendant went on to take a picture of the two doctors, they got furious and snatched away his phone to delete the photo. Fakrul Islam further said, “After snatching the phone they started hitting me. They went on to hit my mother as well, who is 65 years old. 80 of their doctors teamed up to beat us, just because I took their photo. Are they doctors or goons? After that, they took me to a room and hit me with everything they could get hold of. They broke my nose and I have bruises all over my body”.

Later the Ghungoor police reached the spot and stopped the fight. Ghungoor Out Post OC Birkumar Singha informed, he took both the injured mother and son along with the father who was admitted at the medical college to Civil Hospital for further treatment.

However, the Vice Principal on-duty of the Medicine Department said, is a completely different story. On behalf of the doctors, Dr Tanuj Kumar Biswas, the Vice Principal on duty said, “When this patient came to the Medicine OPD, the doctors on duty saw the patient and when he complained of chest pain and shortened breath, ECG was performed immediately. The doctors then asked the attendants, the patient’s wife and son to shift him to the cardiology ward. In the meantime, the doctors asked the sister to give him some medicines and injections to ease the chest pain before discharging him to cardiology. The patient’s son then started to complain about the medical facilities and said the hospital was very unhygienic. Later when the nurse gave the IV injection, a small amount of blood came out in the syringe. It is very usual, this happens with IV injections. But the patient’s son said the nurse didn’t operate the injection properly. The doctors tried to explain that it was normal, but he refused to understand and said he doesn’t like the system there. The doctors then said, in that case, they can get the patient discharged but admit him in some other hospital of their choice immediately”.

The senior doctor further narrating the incident said, “When the doctors asked them to discharge the patient if they didn’t like the system, the patient’s son got irked and asked the names and designation of the doctors. He also took photos of the doctors on duty without their permission and hence the doctors took his phone and deleted the photos. After this, both the mother and son started to attack the doctors on duty. The mother first slapped the doctors and the son thrashed them and one of them fell on the ground. The specs might have broken, I don’t know. There is a cut mark behind his ear. But then there were no repercussions from the doctors. By the system, one can not click photos inside the examination room, there are no CCTV cameras as well for the patient’s privacy. Later other attendants also complained their patients also needed to be attended to. This resulted in a scuffle. Now I don’t know which attendants attacked whom and who all were injured. One of my doctors got injured and the other who tried to save him also has some minor wounds”.

This is not the first such case where a patient was allegedly attacked by doctors. The incidents of doctors being attacked by patients are also prevalent and both sides need detailed investigation. As of now, the Fakrul Islam is undergoing medical checkup at Civil Hospital, Silchar and his father is also shifted from SMCH to SMDCH.