Mumbai: Hours after an inebriated patient assaulted a resident doctor at the Government Medical College in Nanded early on Friday, the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) demanded that they should be provided firearms for protection. The body of 4,000-odd trainee doctors claimed that it was the 40th incident of violence in a government medical college since last year.MARD wrote to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking “an immediate provision of firearm licence”. “It is our last resort. We need arms to protect ourselves as the state has failed to do so. This is the seventh incident of violence against an on-duty resident doctor this year,” said Dr Sagar Mundada, president of MARD.The resident doctors of the Nanded medical college had gone on a flash strike after Friday’s assault, which took place at 3am in the emergency area. According to doctors of the college, the patient was an assault victim himself. “He had come to the hospital with wounds which were dressed and treated. He was attended to on time. He wanted some painkillers that the doctor advised him to get from the nurse. The patient, evidently under the influence of alcohol, started slapping the first year resident doctor from medicine department,” said a member of MARD’s Nanded chapter.The incident has also been captured in the hospital’s CCTV camera. A clip circulated by MARD shows that the patient tried to attack the doctor with a chair after the hospital security tried to stop him. “The doctor was under attack for nearly two minutes before the security guard reached there. He did stop the man from beating the doctor any further,” said the Nanded doctor. He said that they resumed work only after the police arrested the accused in the afternoon.Mundada added that they have also asked the state to implement a rule to not allow more than two relatives from accompanying a patient to the hospital. The MARD has given the state a deadline till May 30 to fulfill their demands.A senior state official told TOI the demand for firearms was an “overreaction”. “The issue is serious. We are working on security in medical colleges,” the official said.