The Junior Doctors Association of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Adilabad are on a protest strike for the second consecutive day demanding, "change of Director Dr Jaisingh Rathod". To recall, on December 13 between 11.30 pm and 12 pm, a house surgeon Dr T Kaviraj was assaulted and attacked by four to five outsiders near his hostel, allegedly in the presence of Dr Kranthi Kumar, RIMS Assistant Professor.
The strike notice was issued today, December 15, to the Director/Superintendent of the institute. "In view of recent incidents which happened in our college premises on 13-12-2023, We the RIMS JUDA have declared strike until our demands are met. All PG’s and House surgeons are boycotting OPD’s, IP duties. EMERGENCY SERVICES WILL BE OPERATIONAL ONLY FOR TODAY," read the strike notice which EdexLive has access to.
Protest and demands
First, the protest was staged on December 14 from 9 am to 6 pm and there demands ere:
1) Termination of Assistant Professor Dr Kranthi Kumar
2) Attempt to Murder Case on the group of people and Dr Kranthi Kumar who attacked the doctors
3) Termination of Director Dr Jaisingh Rathod
"Since Dr Kranthi was terminated yesterday (December 14), we are protesting today demanding the resignation of the director for not addressing the issue," said RIMS JUDA President Dr Voruganti Arun Kumar. The final year post-graduate student from MD Pathology told EdexLive that Dr Krathi was terminated after an internal committee was formed by the director.
Getting back to the protest, upon inquiring about the number of students participating, Dr Arun said, "Around 700 to 800 house surgeons, PGs and interns are staging the protest today."
As per today's strike notice, the JUDA demands:
1) Action to be taken against Dr Jaisingh Rathod and whoever are involved in this incident
2) Change the Director of campus for letting such incidents happen repeatedly
"If our demands are not addressed, we will be boycotting all services INCLUDING EMERGENCY SERVICES FROM TOMORROW," warns the association via its letter.
Timeline of incident
Narrating the series of incidents that contributed to this assault on house surgeons, Dr Arun stated that Kaviraj and a group of house surgeons held a meeting with the director on the evening of December 13 where they discussed the facilities needed in the institute. "They had a heated discussion," he claimed.
"On being beaten up with cricket bats and sticks, the surgeons asked Dr Kranthi why outsiders are beating them. With his response we understood that the attack was associated with the argument that happened in the evening with the director," Dr Arun said.
"Dr Kranthi said, they (outsiders) are 'director sir fans'. If you speak harshly or rudely with him, this is what they will do," Dr Arun claims. Other hosteliers also came in support of the surgeons.
When the attackers tried to escape, in an attempt to stop them, a medical student, Dr Abhishek, who was on the car's bonnet, was dragged for approximately 500 metres from the hostel building to the hostel gate. "When the car crashed into the gate, Dr Abhishek fell on the road," alleges JUDA.
As per JUDA, the police arrested Dr Kranthi and his assistants on that very night. As per a report by The Hindu, a complaint was lodged with the Station House Officer (SHO) of Adilabad II Town Police Station and case has been registered under Sections 337, 447, 307, read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
During the incident, six surgeons sustained injuries and EdexLive was informed that the attackers were violent and used abusive language. Following this unpleasant incident, the students staged a protest and gave a representation to the Additional Collector of the Adilabad district on December 14.
Letter to Collector
"We marched to the collector office and on the non-availability of collector, we gave our representation to the Additional Collector," said Dr Arun, disclosing that the collector had acknowledged their demands and paid a visit to the institute immediately to inquire about the incident.
As per the representation given to the collector, the students who were injured in the incident are:
Dr T Kaviraj
Dr B Bharath
Dr Pendem Naveen
Dr E Vijay
Dr Pasupuleti Naveen
Dr Abhishek M Naik
Further, Dr Arun disclosed that a committee has been formed by the Government Medical College to enquire about the incident. "The committee has arrived and the six house surgeons are being investigated by the committee today," he added.
Retrosoecting previous incident
Dr Arun recalls that Dr Kranthi had swept under the carpet a previous incident where a first year PG dtoctor was attacked by patient's kin. Giving details about the previous incident which happened three weeks ago, Dr Arun said a first-year PG student from Palmonology was attached by a patient's relative as the patient scummed to death.
As the PG student was a native of Kerala, he refused to file a FIR fearing the legal battle. "However, the institute had an opportunity to raise a complaint but it didn't," Dr Arun said adding that they wanted to stage a strike against the security lapses but were stopped by Dr Kranthi stating that the attacker would apologise.
Connecting the dots to both the incidents, the junior doctors association opines that the director is not placing a check on preventing such attacks on the students.
What now?
The association is stern when it comes to the resignation of the director. "We will decide our plan of action based on the outcomes of the committee's inquiry. If our demands are not, we will suspend emergency duties from tomorrow," said the president of RIMS JUDA.
