AMC doctors' stir against Kolkata hospital violence

DIBRUGARH: Expressing solidarity with their counterparts in West Bengal, doctors at Assam Medical College (AMC) in Dibrugarh have been providing services wearing red-stained bandages and black badges since Friday.
Without resorting to complete cessation of services, the doctors' fraternity at AMC, which is the first medical college in the northeast, have been protesting against the assault on fellow doctors in Kolkata on Tuesday.The protests at AMC are being held under the banner of the Junior Doctors' Association, Assam Medical College Students' Association, the Dibrugarh branch of Indian Medical Association and Assam Medical College Teachers' Association.
AMC has decided to participate in the nationwide 24-hour strike called by the Indian Medical Association on June 17. Except for emergency services which have been exempted from the strike, non-emergency services and routine diagnostic services will remain suspended during the period, AMC sources said on Saturday.
"Like West Bengal, medical colleges in Assam lack proper safety measures. The basic minimum we can ask for is the permanent placement of security personnel at places which have a high patient turnover, like casualty departments. Security is of utmost importance for doctors to avoid taking risks or even trying invasive life-saving procedures for fear of physical assault if such procedures lead to complications," said Sauradeep Dey, a junior resident doctor at the department of general surgery at AMC.
"We hope that the Kolkata incident will pave the way for proper screening measures such as preventing drunk or rowdy attendants from entering the patient management zone and quick redressal of grievances of patients and their attendants by additional hospital personnels. On-duty doctors, overburdened with looking after patients, often fail to provide fast solutions to these grievances, leading to miscommunication between patients and their families," a junior doctor said.
Doctors across the country have been staging protests since two junior doctors were seriously injured after being attacked at NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on June 10.