Mangaluru, May 22: Medical services in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi were affected on Monday as members of the medical fraternity in the twin districts resorted to a day-long protest against recent assault on a doctor.
No services, except for emergency medical services, were available for 24 hours from Monday morning in the hospitals of two districts. However, the doctors exhibited humanity by taking necessary measures for the smooth functioning of ICU sections.
The protest call was given by the Indian Medical Association and other associations in the wake of attack on Abhijit Sudhakar Shetty, Assistant Professor of Yenepoya Medical College and Hospital, Deralakatte, last week by the relatives of a patient who breathed his last in the hospital.
Thousands of demonstrators including doctors, paramedical professionals and medical students from across coastal Karnataka took out a protest march from Dr Ambedkar circle before converging at Nehru Maidan in the city denouncing the attack.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Raghavendra Bhat, IMA Mangaluru president, said that attack on a doctor in a city like Mnagaluru, which is known as a medical hub of South India, is a matter of shame. Urging the authorities concerned to take stringent action against those who manhandled doctor, he said that Deralakatte attack should be the last case of attack on doctors in the state.
He said that frequent assaults on doctors have proved that the Karnataka Prohibition of Violence against Medicare Service Personnel and Damage to Property in Medicare Service Institutions Act, lacks teeth.
“The existing law to protect doctors and medical institutions was introduced in Karnataka in 2009. Section 3 of the law makes any attack on doctors or hospital property a cognizable and non-bailable offence. However this law is hardly evoked against those who attacked doctors on various occasions,” he lamented.
Dr Shantharam Shetty, Dr K R Kamath, Fr Richard Coelho, Dr Sathish Bhat, Fr Rudolph, Dr Ananth Prasad, Dr Divakar Rao, Dr Bharath Shetty were present among others.
Also Read: Chaos at Yenepoya hospital after patient’s death; 3 held for ‘abducting’ doctor
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