A letter was issued by the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), to senior authorities of the institute to bring to light a case of assault on a Junior Resident (Medicine) by the attendant of a patient at PGI.

On February 21, the attendant of a patient assaulted a junior resident on Emergency duty after an unsuccessful attempt at resuscitation of the patient, who had developed contrast-induced severe anaphylactic shock. CPR was continued over 30 minutes on demand from the attendant’s side.  Despite his best efforts, the junior resident was manhandled and slapped in public after the patient was declared dead with no ROSC.

According to Dr Rahul (Department of Psychiatry), President, ARD, stated that this was not the first time such an incident had taken place. Strict steps should be taken to stop such incidences.

After extensive discussions on the topic in a meeting held on February 22, with Prof Surjit Singh, Director, PGI, and representatives of residents and ARD members, the following decisions were made. An institutional committee would be formed to deal with such incidents which would work 24×7 and, henceforth, an institutional FIR will be lodged. Security staff would be increased in the Emergency OPD area with one police personnel deputed along with the security staff.

The Head of Department, Internal Medicine, Prof Jain, promised and assured that more junior residents and senior residents would be appointed. Prof Singh, Director, PGI, has agreed to appoint social workers and counsellors in the Emergency-OPD area to deal with attendants.

To solve such problems, the ARD would closely follow up on the issues raised and try their best to solve the pertinent problems.

Source: The Indian Express