The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Medicos plan State-wide stir following assault on doctor

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 22, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Medicos plan State-wide stir following assault on doctor

Staff Reporter

Attack follows death of 12-day-old child admitted to the Children's Hospital

CHENNAI: Outpatient services and functioning of wards at the Institute for Child Health and Hospital for Children, Egmore, were thrown out of gear on Friday as 250 students launched protests demanding the arrest of the accused of assaulting a post-graduate doctor.

House surgeons and post-graduate students staged a `sit-in' protest on the campus demanding the arrest of three persons for the attack on the duty doctor on Thursday night following the death of a critically-ill infant.

The Post Graduate Doctors' Association on Friday night announced a State-wide indefinite strike across Government medical colleges and institutions from Saturday to press their demand.

Students will abstain from outpatient and ward duties as part of the agitation. A rally is proposed to be taken out from the ICH to the office of the Commissioner of Police

According to the police, a 12-day-old child, which was admitted in a critical condition to the Children's Hospital on Wednesday, died on Thursday night. The child's father, Feroze, along with a group of people came to the hospital around 11 p.m. and they allegedly beat up Suresh Kumar, the doctor on duty at that time, with an iron rod, police said.

The doctor has been admitted to the Government General hospital with serious injuries, police said.

According to medical students at ICH, the child could not be saved because of complications associated with the localised narrowing (coarctation) of the aorta. Moreover, Dr. Suresh Kumar, was on duty at the Casualty and had no connection with the treatment for the newborn, they said.

Demand for police outpost

Medical students are also demanding a permanent police outpost on the ICH campus to heighten security and prevent such incidents in future. It is alleged that only two months ago, family members of a child, who died at the hospital, threatened a lady doctor.

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