Ahmedabad: Doctors demand law to ensure their security

AHMEDABAD/VADODARA/RAJKOT: Following the attack on a medical student and four junior doctors by the kin of a patient who had died at a hospital in Kolkata on Wednesday, a series of demonstrations were held by doctors across Gujarat on Friday. The doctors are demanding that a law be enacted to ensure their security.
“We are demanding a central legislation on violence against doctors, which will protect doctors from being assaulted at hospitals, and submitted a memorandum to the Ahmedabad district collector in this regard.Numerous assaults on doctors are reported from time to time and there must be a law to ensure their security, especially after the spate of recent incidents,” said Dr Kamlesh Saini, honorary secretary of the Gujarat branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA).
In Ahmedabad, some 700 students and doctors from various medical colleges participated in a demonstration organized by the IMA.
“If celebrities and politicians can be given security, why the blind eye towards doctors. What we want is basic security and being treated as humans,” said Dr Mihir Tejura, a resident doctor at LG Hospital in Ahmedabad.
More than 1,000 doctors, medical students and interns joined protests in Vadodara, where demonstrations, marches and blood donation camps were held, all condemning the Kolkata incident. Students of GMERS Gotri, Parul Institute of Medical Sciences and Sumandeep Vidyapeeth in Vadodara, wore black bands in protest.
“We submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister’s Office through the Vadodara district collector, urging the government to frame stringent laws so that doctors can practice without fear,” said Dr Paresh Majumudar, chairman of the Vadodara chapter of the Hospital Board of India.
“We demand that central and state governments guarantee our security,” said Pranjal Chauhan, a third-year MBBS student at Baroda Medical College.
While 1,700 doctors in Rajkot expressed solidarity with their counterparts in West Bengal on Friday, no demonstrations were held there. Doctors instead submitted a memorandum to the district collector, demanding justice for doctors.