Mettupalayam Government Hospital staff strike work to protest attack by relatives of road accident victim

COIMBATORE: Doctors and other staff members at the Mettupalayam Government Hospital on Wednesday morning launched strike demanding the arrest some people who attacked a doctor, a nurse and a paramedical staff in an emergency ward on Tuesday night. They were attacked by the relatives of a woman who died after meeting with a road accident.
The mob assaulted the doctor by banging a tray containing drug vials on his head and pushing him down to a bed.The mob slapped the nurse and hit her on the head, leading to a neck injury. The doctors demanded arrest of the culprits and deployment of police personnel outside the GH.
Hospital dean Dr Seralathan said a road traffic accident victim, Rukmini, 38, was brought into the GH’s emergency ward at 6.55pm on Tuesday. “The victim was riding on a two-wheeler and was knocked down by a truck. Since she had polytrauma injuries, including on her head, chest and abdomen, we gave her first aid and began procedures to refer her to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital,” he said.
“But her relatives refused our referral and took her to a nearby private hospital. She was shifted to that hospital in a private ambulance at 7.30pm,” he added.
At 8.30 pm, they brought her back to the hospital, he said. “She was brought dead. Once the doctor, Dr Lakshmanakumar, declared her dead after checking her ECG and pulse, around 10 to 15 relatives who barged into the emergency ward took a metal tray with drugs and banged it on the doctor’s head. They later pushed him down to the bed shouting that Rukmini would have survived had we treated her properly,” said Dr Seralanathan.
“They later slapped a nurse, Mahalakshmi. They hit her on her head, in a way that her neck was injured,” he said. They also hit a paramedical staff. There were 40 to 50 members outside the hospital.
Doctors submitted a complaint along with CCTV footage of the incident to superintendent of police Sujith Kumar on Tuesday night.
“We will not resume work till the culprits are arrested and jailed. This is the third time we are being attacked by a mob after an unfavourable outcome of treatment,” said the dean. “No action was taken last two times. This is a life threat to us, and we won’t tolerate it any longer,” he said.