West Bengal Doctors Demand Action Against Cop For Assaulting Colleague

Six doctors' organisations on Monday said they would stop all work at the Out Patients Department or OPD section of private hospitals in West Bengal if no action was taken against a police officer who had allegedly assaulted a junior doctor at a Kolkata hospital.

"We demand strict action against the police officer who assaulted one of our junior doctor. If the police does not act proper we will stop all operations at the OPDs of all private hospitals in the state for an hour on Wednesday," Association of Health Service doctors general secretary Dr Manas Kumar Gumta said.

He said that all other operations will not be affected by their movement.

"The police today asked for a fortnight's time to take action against the accused. This is a simple case and we have given them 48 hours' time to take proper legal action against the officer," he said.

Dr Gumta said that doctors at state-run hospitals would wear black batches to protest against the act.

On August 29 night, a junior doctor at a private hospital in Kolkata had lodged a complaint of physical assault against a police officer, who had taken admission at the plastic surgery department for a wrist surgery.

In his complaint at Alipore police station, Srinivas Geddam, a postgraduate trainee doctor with CMRI, had alleged that the Jadavpur police station officer-in-charge (OC) Pulak Kumar Dutta hit him when he was attending to his medical case.

An official at CMRI said Dr Geddam, a resident of Andhra Pradesh, was attacked while he trying to understand Pulak Kumar Dutta's medication routine from the prescriptions submitted to the hospital during admission.

The state Indian Medical Association (IMA) unit had written to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seeking her intervention into the matter and action against the accused police officer.

However, no action was taken against the officer as a "probe was on," according to the officers of the Alipore Police station.