31 January,2013 08:17 AM IST | | Naveen Nair
Medical staff at BMC-run Bhabha Hospital went on strike for almost three hours yesterday to protest an assault on their colleague by relatives of a patient who had died in the hospital.
Grief turned into a violent attack on Wednesday when relatives of Sayyed Ayaz Sarifuddin wrecked hospital property. The relatives broke the windows and other equipment inside the ICU of the hospital and also punched and kicked an on-duty doctor and a security guard.
Ransacked: The glass panes and the doors of the ICU room were shattered by the belligerent crowd
Sayyed, a 17-year-old, was admitted to the hospital's ICU ward on Tuesday around 10.15 am after a bike knocked him down while he was crossing the road. Yash Juvekar (19) and Darshan Nagvekar (18) who were on the bike also sustained serious injuries and were rushed to Bhabha hospital.
Around 1.15 am, when doctors from the ICU informed Sayyed's family of his death, they allegedly barged into the ICU and attacked Dr Siddharth Shah (24), an on-duty doctor and security guard Firoze Sheikh. "When we informed the father about his son's death, he went out of the ICU and informed the other relatives. Immediately, 10-15 relatives broke several windows of the ICU and threatened other nurses and doctors present that they would burn down the hospital. They continued to break glass panes in the ICU and ransack other equipment for almost an hour," said a visibly traumatised Dr Shah, adding that Sayyed's family members also punched and kicked him.
Dr Seema Malik, chief medical superintendent of Bhabha Hospital, said, "One of the bike accident victims who was admitted to our hospital on Tuesday night succumbed to his injuries around 1 in the night. The relatives of the victim suddenly entered the ICU and assaulted the staff and also ransacked the unit.
Doctors and nurses went on a strike from 8 am to 11.30 am and resumed work only after an FIR was lodged at the Bandra police station against the relatives." Dr Malik claimed that work at the hospital was not affected due to the strike.
Shakeela, the mother of the deceased, alleged that the hospital did not admit her son for over an hour and made him lie in a stretcher outside the emergency ward.
A senior official said an FIR had been lodged against 12 relatives of the deceased under the Doctor's Protection Act. However, no arrests had been made, as the family was yet to perform the last rites of Sayyed. Meanwhile, Darshan, the other victim of the accident was still on a ventilator at Bhabha Hospital whereas Yash was shifted to Lilavati Hospital.
