Gujarat: Doctor Denied Payment, Assaulted With Iron Pipes, Hospital Owner Booked

A physician was allegedly assaulted with iron pipes by the hospital authorities on asking for his due payment for his service. The incident took place at Ratnadeep Hospital in Surat, where Dr Deep Modh visited as a chest physician and treated COVID-19 patients admitted in the hospital in June and July, reported The Indian Express.

In his complaint, Dr Modh, a resident of Vesu has claimed that he, along with a few other doctors had treated patients who tested positive for coronavirus for two months. After July, the hospital had stopped admitting COVID patients and discontinued Modh's services.

He sought ₹2.13 lakh as payment for treatment during the two months from the hospital. However, Dr Ravisnh Raj, owner of the hospital, paid half of the amount and sought for some days to clear the due.

Modh was turned away each time he visited the hospital for collecting the due, over different reasons by Raj. On Tuesday, Dr Modh visited again, along with his friend, Dhaval Shah, after receiving a call from the hospital. Raj handed him a cheque of ₹1 lakh and asked him to sign a no-due left statement.

As soon as Modh started to leave the office, he was attacked by Raj's brothers with iron pipes and took the cheque away. The four men then took him to the hospital gate and told the security guards not to let him in again.

Dr Modh has named Raj, his brothers Pankajsinh, Jaysinh, and Rajnikantsinh and five others who manhandled him. Khatodara Police have lodged an offence on charges of criminal intimidation and voluntarily causing hurt among others.

The case has been registered under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506(2) (criminal intimidation), 385 (putting a person in fear of injury to commit extortion) and 114 (abettor present when an offence is committed) of the Indian Penal Code.

All of them are currently absconding, and the police are on a lookout for them. The police also found that Raj had not paid many healthcare workers for their services in his hospital, including the visiting doctors.