MUMBAI: The acting dean of Dr R N Cooper Hospital, Juhu, Dr Neelam Andrade, has written to the Juhu police demanding immediate action against those involved in the assault on on-duty doctors that occurred between 12.10am and 12.30am on November 8.
Despite an FIR being registered early that morning, no concrete action was taken, even after more than 30 hours had passed, prompting outrage among resident doctors who went on mass leave in protest. According to the police, the accused, Sameer Abdul Jabbar Shaikh, 35, attacked three doctors on Saturday after his 57-year-old mother, Sayyeda, was declared dead on arrival. As her blood pressure was unrecordable, doctors began CPR after informing the seniors, but she could not be revived.
Shaikh attacked doctors inside the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) ward, leaving three injured: casualty medical officer (CMO) Dr Gaurav Anandgoankar, intern Dr Prashant Bhadke, and resident Dr Karan Desai. Resident doctors said no security or police personnel intervened during the incident. “I was assaulted inside my hospital, the very place where I’ve spent the last seven years dedicated to saving lives. No one should have to face violence for simply doing their job, especially not in healthcare,” said Dr Desai.
A delegation from BMC Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) met Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Mangal Prabhat Lodha at KEM Hospital on Monday, urging swift justice for doctors assaulted at Cooper.
A senior BMC health official said, “We have been taking regular action. The residents had taken mass leave for the last three days, which did impact our services to some extent. However, we understand their concerns. The FIR was lodged by the CMO on duty, who is authorised to do so. We also wrote another letter to the Juhu police, urging them to take action against those involved. Since the offence does not warrant arrest, a notice has been issued, and the matter will soon be taken up in the High Court, the police officials have guaranteed.”
When contacted by HT, Juhu police station’s senior police inspector, Sunil Jadhav, said that the police sent notices to the accused to be present before them for investigation, as per the First Information Report. “We have done what was needed as per the sections of the FIR,” said Jadhav.
The health official added that security has been strengthened with eight personnel equipped with walkie-talkies posted at the hospital. A proposal to deploy the Maharashtra Security Force has also been floated and would take around three months to enforce. Meanwhile, we are ensuring maximum security for doctors,” the official said.
Dr Chinmay Kelkar, a representative of Cooper MARD, told HT, “We are continuing our mass leave until our demands are met on paper. We are waiting for the written confirmation of everything discussed in a meeting with higher authorities today, after which we will decide on the next steps.”
Basic services, such as measuring patients’ blood pressure, were impacted at Cooper Hospital on Monday due to the absence of resident doctors and medical interns, according to hospital staff members.