SC to hear PIL on safety, security of doctors

A petition regarding safety and security of government doctors across the country has been admitted in Supreme Court on Friday and is likely to be heard very soon.

Advocate, Alakh Alok Srivastava, in his petition has sought a direction from the apex court for the deployment of government-appointed security personnel at all government hospitals and also a formulation of strict guidelines.

Srivastava has further sought strictest action against the alleged attackers who allegedly assaulted a junior doctor at NRS Hospital, Kolkata.

Various medical bodies called doctors' strike across the country in protest over the rising violence against the medical fraternity. This came in the wake of an alleged attack on a junior doctor in West Bengal by relatives of a patient who died on June 10.

Meanwhile, as many as 43 doctors submitted their resignation here on Friday amidst the ongoing strike by the junior doctors in West Bengal.

While 27 doctors of North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Darjeeling resigned over the violence against doctors in the state, a total of 16 doctors of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata also submitted their resignation. However, the protesting doctors have not called off the strike yet and are demanding adequate security in every medical college and hospital.

Earlier today, the Calcutta High Court gave seven days time to West Bengal government to respond to a PIL seeking a declaration of the ongoing doctors strike across hospitals in the state as "illegal".

A division bench headed by Chief Justice T B Radhakrishnan heard the matter on Friday.

Junior doctors in Kolkata have been on strike after two of their colleagues were attacked and seriously injured over an issue of alleged negligence at the NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on Tuesday

Doctors in other parts of the country including Delhi and other cities staged protests and boycotted work in solidarity with their colleagues in West Bengal. Doctors at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) were seen wearing helmets and bandages as they attended to patients.