YAVATMAL: A junior resident doctor at Yavatmal Government Medical College and Hospital has been suspended for eight days on the orders of district guardian minister Sanjay Rathod.GMCH in-charge dean Dr Milind Kamble issued the suspension order charging the doctor with showing disrespect to people’s representative Rathod, who is also the state forest minister, by not taking his call.According to sources, Dr Achyut Narote was on duty in casualty ward on Monday evening attending to 5-6 serious patients when an elderly man brought his son, who had reportedly consumed poison, to the ward. Worried about his son’s health, the man insisted Dr Narote attend to his son urgently. When the doctor asked him to wait, the man called a ‘bhau’ (brother in Marathi) to complain.After a brief conversation with ‘bhau’, the man asked the doctor to talk to the person at the other end. Not knowing that the ‘bhau’ on phone was minister Rathod, the doctor refused to attend the call saying he is busy and will talk only after 10 minutes or else ask the ‘bhau’ to come to the hospital.Rathod apparently overheard the conversation. He then contacted Dr Kamble demanding action against the junior doctor. Dr Kamble immediately suspended the doctor for eight days from Tuesday.Speaking to TOI on Thursday, Dr Kamble said he has suspended Dr Narote after verifying what had happened. He also informed that show cause memos have been served on two male nurses and a woman nurse who were on duty when the incident took place. “The three have been show caused for not attending the phone call of the minister when the doctor was busy,” said Dr Kamble.On Thursday, a delegation of resident doctors met the dean and requested him to revoke Dr Narote’s suspension. After the meeting, Dr Kamble announced a three-member committee, under chairmanship of Dr Surendra Gawarle, HoD of ENT department, to probe the matter and submit a report in two days.Meanwhile, local unit of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has threatened to launch an agitation if the doctor’s suspension was not revoked.Rathod admitted to having asked the dean to take action against Dr Narote. Narrating the incident, Rathod said on Monday a person from his constituency had called him to complain about the GMCH doctor not attending to his son.“When the worried father wanted Dr Narote to speak to me on phone, he not only refused to talk but also ‘insulted’ the elderly person,” said Rathod. “Three nurses on duty also refused to attend the call and hence I had to instruct the dean to initiate action against the ‘irresponsible’ doctor,” the minister added.“After the suspension, Dr Narote sent me a message apologizing for the incident. Since probe has been ordered, let the dean decide future course of action based on the committee report,,” said Rathod.