india

Updated: Aug 29, 2019 23:10 IST

Around 1,600 resident doctors from the Safdarjung hospital went on a flash strike Thursday evening after two doctors on duty were attacked by the relatives of a patient who had died.

The resident withdrew from all services, including the emergency services, according to the resident doctors’ association of the hospital.

“A mob of around two people brutally attacked the two residents on duty who have sustained injuries to the face, head, back, abdomen, and limbs. In response to this, RDA calls for an indefinite strike, including the emergency services, with effect from August 29, 2019, 1600 hours,” a letter by the doctors to the hospital administration read.

The violence took place after a 40-year-old patient with chronic liver disease and a history of alcoholism, who had multiple complications including diabetes and was on a ventilator, died.

This is the second strike by the doctors of the hospital. At the beginning of the month, the doctors from Safdarjung hospital along with resident doctors from the hospital across Delhi had gone on a strike to protest against the National Medical Commission Act, 2019

This is the fourth incident of violence in two months reported from a government hospital in Delhi. The doctors had also gone on a strike mid-June to show solidarity with doctors protesting the violence against a colleague who was assaulted in a hospital in West Bengal.