Day after HC ruling in Solapur case, patient's kin assaults Kolhapur doctor

A day after resident doctors withdrew their strike, protesting against the assault on a Solapur resident doctor, a doctor was attacked by a patient’s relatives in Kolhapur.

Dr Vijay Patil, the casualty medical officer at Chhatrapati Pramila Raje hospital in Kolhapur, was allegedly assaulted by a patient’s relative on Friday night.

A 40-year-old woman was brought to the hospital in a breathless condition from a private hospital in the Ichalkaranji taluka. “The doctors told the woman’s relatives that ICU beds in surgery and medicine departments were full and there was no way any patient could be taken off the ventilator to accommodate the woman,” said Dr Narayan Gade, president, Medical Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), Kolhapur.

The patient was being attended to in the casualty. However, during resuscitation, she died.

The incident is said to have transpired within 10 minutes. The relatives were informed, but they got agitated.

“All of a sudden, a woman constable, claiming to be a relative, started shouting. Also, another 25-year-old relative held casualty medical officer (Dr Vijay Patil) and started punching and slapping him on the face. Later, the assaulter fled,” said Gade.

MARD members filed a first information report regarding the incident, after which the police arrested the attacker.