Ever since the onset of the coronavirus outbreak, amid the fear and panic surrounding the novel virus, there has been an alarming number of attacks on healthcare professionals across India.
While the frontline workers are putting their lives at risk and fighting the outbreak head-on, many people across the country are not valuing the healthcare workers’ immense efforts and life.
On April 16, the Resident Doctors Association (RDA) of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has written a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, requesting him to implement the ‘Health Services Personnel and Clinical Establishments (Prohibition of Violence and Damage to Property), Bill’.
The letter pointed out that despite a home ministry advisory to ensure protection to doctors, multiple instances of violence have been reported across the country.
Stating that such incidents had become an unforeseen ‘occupational hazard’, the RDA said, ‘We, as healthcare professionals, are not as scared of infections as we are of being assaulted and abused by the very community we treat.’
Appeal to Home Ministry to reconsider the Prohibition of Violence and Damage to Property Bill as forwarded by Health Ministry. @AmitShahOffice @AmitShah @drharshvardhan @PMOIndia @MoHFW_INDIA @adarshaiims @srinivasaiims @pawan_sinhmar @AjayMohanAIIMS @Amandeep_2040 pic.twitter.com/U3rXI39qFF
â RDAAIIMS (@AIIMSRDA) April 16, 2020
The RDA also pointed out 7 such instances of violence against healthcare workers in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. From doctors being assaulted in hospital premises to healthcare workers getting beaten up while screening residents for COVID-19, the seven are part of many such incidents that have shaken the country in recent times.
1. Stones Pelted At Duty Doctors In Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
A team of doctors and medical staff had reached Moradabad’s Nawabganj area to take primary contacts of a deceased COVID-19 patient when a mob pelted stones at the ambulance and medical staff on Wednesday, April 15.
The police van, which came to rescue the health workers, was also targetted. Three people, including a doctor and a pharmacist, suffered injuries in the attack.
Following the attack, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered the police to book the accused under the stringent National Security Act(NSA). At least 17 persons, including seven women, have been arrested for pelting stones on the health workers and police.
Moradabad: Some people pelted stones at medical team&police which had gone to take a person possibly infected with #COVID.’When our team boarded ambulance with patient,suddenly crowd emerged&started pelting stones.Some doctors are still there.We are injured,’says ambulance driver pic.twitter.com/Rpo5jDRuJY
â ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 15, 2020
2. Patients Assault Woman Doctor In Delhi’s Lok Nayak Hospital
A woman doctor was allegedly assaulted by a patient inside a surgical ward, at Lok Nayak Hospital in Delhi, on Tuesday, April 14. The incident took place in the evening, where the woman and the accompanying doctor were manhandled by patients, due to which they had to hide inside the duty room and call the security.
In a letter to the Medical Officer, RDA stated that the patient started abusing and allegedly passed vulgar comments to the woman doctor on duty. When the doctor objected, the patient gathered other patients in the ward and threatened the doctors and other medical staff.
3. Two Women Resident Doctors Assaulted By A Man In Delhi
Two women resident doctors of Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital were allegedly assaulted by their neighbour late on Wednesday, April 8, who accused them of ‘spreading’ COVID-19 in Gautam Nagar area.
The incident took place around 9:30 pm when both the doctors had stepped out of their house to buy fruits. The 44-year-old man allegedly harassed the women doctors for not being inside their house and accused them of spreading coronavirus.
4. Doctors In Hyderabad Hospital Attacked By Family Of Man Who Died Due To COVID-19
The family of a person who died due to coronavirus allegedly attacked two doctors at the Gandhi Medical Hospital in Hyderabad on Wednesday, April 1.
The assaulter, who himself is a COVID-19 patient, not only attacked a resident doctor on duty after his brother died, but also broke a window at the hospital.
5. Healthcare Workers Attacked By Mob In Indore
Healthcare workers and civic officials were beaten up by angry locals in a neighbourhood located in Indore, in Madhya Pradesh on April 1, during their visit to screen residents for signs of the novel coronavirus infection, COVID-19.
According to an NDTV report, two women doctors were injured in the attack and had to be rescued by police. In the video of the incident that has surfaced online, a mob of about 100 angry residents can be seen shouting abuses, throwing sticks and stones and chasing the healthcare workers down the lane.
Indore has 76% of MP’s #COVID patients, but after Ranipura again locals attacked health officials @ChouhanShivr…
