Doctors fear to even lodge police complaint

Doctors fear to even lodge police complaint

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, Jan 8, 2017: Members of the Udupi - Karavali branch of the IMA, Indian Medical Association,  staged a protest at the  Udupi Clock Tower on Jan 7, Saturday condemning the recent assault on doctors and other medical staff by Uttara Kannada MP, Anantkumar Hegde.

The members later submitted a memorandum addressed to Home Minister G. Parameshwara at the Deputy Commissioner’s office. They said that MP Hegde had assaulted Madhukeshwar, Balakrishna Bhat and other staff at T.S.S. Hospital at Sirsi town in Uttara Kannada district on January 2.

These incidents were captured in CCTV cameras and were aired by television channels. The physicians and staff were deeply affected by the assault and were reluctant  to even lodge a police complaint. “This raises the question whether we are living under a democracy or a under a ‘goonda raj,” it said.

This was not an isolated incident. A house surgeon, who was on duty, was assaulted by relatives of a patient at Hassan on December 31. If the police could register a case suo motu in the case of molestation of women on the eve of the New Year celebrations in Bengaluru, why it was not done in the case in Sirsi immediately after the incident?