Berhampur: Patient care at the casualty department of the MKCG Medical College and Hospital here was disrupted for over four hours after a relative of a patient assaulted a junior doctor, a PG Medical student, over alleged denial of treatment late Tuesday night.
The incident occurred when a patient visited the casualty department for treatment of his ear ache accompanied by his kin P Dora (27) of Khala Sahi in Kamapalli of Silk City.
Dora went to Dr Rama Krushna Dhal, a junior doctor and first year PG student of surgery department, and urged him to take a look at his kin. Dhal said the concerned doctor would treat him and asked him to wait till then. Enraged, Dora slapped Dhal twice and fled.
Police arrested Dora Wednesday and produced him in court from where he was remanded to judicial custody after his bail plea was rejected, IIC Jaykrushna Patnaik said.
The incident sparked tension among the post graduate students as they decided to suspend work and not treat the patients visiting the casualty at night. As a result, work at the casualty remained disrupted from 11pm till 3am with patients and their kin having a harrowing time as no doctors came forward to treat the patients.
Baidyanathpur police station officials and their MKCG outpost counterparts rushed to the spot and tried to placate the irate PG students but they refused to relent till the accused was arrested.
The hospital superintendent, Professor (Dr) Charan Panda, held talks with the agitating junior doctors, but they insisted on arrest of the accused before they resumed work.
Later, Dr Dhal lodged a complaint in the police station over which police registered a case and launched a manhunt to nab the accused. Police also scanned the CCTV footages in the department and arrested Dora from his house Wednesday. Normalcy was restored after the agitating doctors withdrew their strike and joined work in the department after 4 am.
PNN