New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said it will hear on June 18 a plea seeking safety and security of doctors in government hospitals across the country. A vacation bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Surya Kant agreed to list the matter for Tuesday after the counsel appearing for the petitioner, advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, sought urgent hearing.

The plea was filed on Friday in the wake of protests by doctors in West Bengal against assault on their colleagues allegedly by the relatives of a patient, who died on June 10 at a Kolkata hospital. The petition has also sought directions to Union ministries of home affairs and health and West Bengal to depute government-appointed security personnel at all state-run hospitals to ensure safety and security of doctors. Due to the protests, healthcare services in the country have been badly disrupted and many people are dying because of absence of doctors, the plea said.