MUMBAI: Five persons, including a woman, were arrested allegedly for beating up two resident doctors of the government-run JJ hospital here on Saturday after the doctors resorted to protests and went on a day-long strike against the incident.
According to police, Zaida Sanaullah Sheikh (45), a resident of neighbouring town of Mumbra who was being treated for a gall bladder ailment at the JJ hospital, died in the morning after which her relatives including a woman, assaulted two resident doctors including a woman, accusing them of negligence that led to Zaida’s death.
The incident took place in the ward no. 11, which is a surgery ward, at around 7 am today. The patient’s relatives also ransacked the ward after which the CCTV footage of the incident went viral over the social media.
The resident doctor’s association then resorted to protests at the hostel in the hospital premises and proceeded on a daylong strike. The police then swung into action, filed a case against the assailants and arrested five members of the Zaida Sheikh’s family.
Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) that had been fighting for the cause of resident doctors in the state said that despite repeated incidents of assault on doctors the security in the hospitals around the state remains dismal.
The association that had led a 10-day-strike across all government hospitals in the state in the month of March last year, alleged in a letter sent to the dean of the JJ hospital that the security at the hospital has been halved leading to the incident.
The police have booked the assailants under various sections of the IPC pertaining to voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from carrying out his duty, assault or criminal force against a public servant, vandalizing government premises etc along with the Medicare act of 2010 that protects doctors from assaults. Dr Ashish Parikh who was injured in the incident was admitted to the hospital and is recovering now, the police have said.