Amid Kolkata doctor rape row, ‘on duty’ woman doctor assaulted by drunk patient at Mumbai’s Sion hospital

Amid widespread outrage over the tragic rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a Kolkata hospital, a patient allegedly assaulted a woman resident doctor and his relatives on Sunday morning, who were all inebriated, at Mumbai's Sion Hospital.

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As reported by ANI, the resident doctors said that the attack happened around 3:30 am while the doctor was on duty in the ward. The patient, who had arrived with facial injuries, and his relatives abused and threatened the doctor during his treatment.

Speaking on the incident, Dr Akshya More, General Secretary of Sion-MARD and BMC-MARD, told ANI, “The patient arrived in casualty after midnight in an intoxicated state with 7-8 relatives. He was involved in an assault before he came to the hospital, and had injury marks on his face... Owing to his injuries, he was given an ENT reference around 3:30 am. Our on-call resident doctor in the ENT department was a female.”

He added, “Following a routine procedure, she undressed the wounds to examine them. That is when the patient started verbally abusing her. The relatives, instead of controlling the patient, started verbally abusing the resident doctor. Things escalated to physical assault very quickly... Nurses intervened but by then the doctor had sustained abrasions on her hands. By the time security was called, the patient and the relatives had fled... Such incidents are very frequent and mostly go unreported but we could not let this one slide, especially after what happened in Kolkata.”

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Meanwhile, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has announced a nationwide withdrawal of services by modern medicine doctors from 6 am on Saturday, August 17, to 6 am on Sunday, August 18, in response to the ongoing protests in Kolkata over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College.

According to the official statement released by the IMA, routine OPDs and elective surgeries will be suspended during this 24-hour period, although essential services will continue.

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The outrage began after a postgraduate trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered on August 9 while on duty at RG Kar Medical College, sparking nationwide strikes and protests by the medical community.

On Wednesday, a mob vandalized the protest site and hospital campus at RG Kar, prompting security forces to intervene and disperse the crowd.

(With inputs from agencies)