TEZPUR, May 15 � The functioning of the Tezpur Medical College at Tumuki near here was paralysed on Friday, causing a lot of inconvenience to patients as the staff of the medical college, including doctors, nurses and students, staged a daylong dharna programme to protest against the frequent attacks on doctors by miscreants on baseless charges.
A lot of doctors in the medical college have been humiliated or assaulted by the local people in recent cases. It is alleged that though the authorities concerned, particularly the police, have been urged to provide adequate security to the doctors, nothing concrete has been done in this regard so far.
On Thursday night, a paediatrician, Dr Jayanta Jyoti Laskar was allegedly assaulted by some miscreants from the Napam area. Dr Laskar said that a six-month-old baby of Napam under the Bihaguri Police Outpost was admitted to the medical college on Thursday morning. The baby was treated in the OPD. Later, the baby�s parents were advised to take home the baby. However, the baby was again brought to the medical college around 9.30 pm, but it had already died on the way. When Dr Laskar disclosed this, the baby�s parents and other attendees assaulted him.
The victim doctor blamed the medical college authorities and the district administration for the alleged failure to provide adequate security to doctors. Dr Laskar said that he managed to save himself by hiding in the boys� hostel.
Meanwhile, the protesting medical staff alleged that despite representations to the Sonitpur SP Sonitpur, seeking a police outpost inside the medical college campus, nothing has been done till date. �If this goes on, the doctors and nurses will have to leave the hospital. Moreover, the culprits involved in the incident have not been booked,� the protesters said.
In a press note, the honorary secretary of the Assam chapter of the All India Medical Association, Dr Satyajit Bora condemned the incident and urged the Government to book the culprits involved in the incident and ensure adequate security of doctors serving in government medical colleges and hospitals. �We have been demanding security of the doctors by using the services of security agencies and installing CCTVs in all government hospitals and medical colleges, but till date nothing has been done, which is a matter of regret for us,� Dr Bora rued.
