Mob ransacks hospital, assaults on-duty doctor in Tripura

Agartala: Alleging poor treatment facilities and inadequate service, a violent mob beat up an on-duty doctor at Kanika Memorial Primary Health Centre at Singirbil in Kailashahar under Unokoti district on Sunday night and vandalised the hospital property and an ambulance.

The hospital service has been closed down soon after the incident while police are deployed to deescalate tension. However, police launched an investigation into the incident after registering a case but nobody has been arrested yet.

The injured medical officer Dr Satyajit Dutta has been shifted to Agartala Govt Medical College and he is stated to be out of danger. The doctor received grievous injuries on the face and head.

According to police, a group of people stormed the hospital with two dead bodies and three injured persons who fell in a road traffic accident in the locality. As the conditions were serious, the doctor referred all the injured patients to the district hospital in Kailasahar. But the ambulance was not in order to transport the patient, which irked the people.

The irritated mob ransacked the hospital and destroyed the ambulance standing on the hospital campus. The doctor on duty at the hospital Dr Dutta was attacked badly and his nose was broken. They were allegedly prevented to take the doctor to the district hospital for better treatment.

Later, District Magistrate along with a large number of policemen reached the spot and rescued the injured doctor, and brought the situation under control. Meanwhile, the doctors’ association expressed serious concern over the attack on the medical professionals and demanded strong action against the accused.

“In most cases, doctors fall victim to such situations due to the deficiency of services and infrastructure in the hospitals. The hospitals including the district hospitals are suffering from a shortage of medicos and non-medicos besides, other services and facilities in an emergency situation. As a result, in any adverse situation, patients become violent and assault the doctors, which is not getting the due attention of the government,” observed a senior official of the Tripura Govt Doctors Association. (UNI)