Safdarjung Hospital doctors go on strike after assault (Lead)

New Delhi Aug 24 (IANS) Over 1 000 resident doctors at the Safdarjung Hospital here went on strike on Thursday after a patient assaulted a doctor affecting emergency services. They withdrew the strike after the Health Ministry assured them extra security.

A delegation of Resident Doctors Association met Additional Secretary (Health) Sanjeeva Kumar who promised that an additional 100 security guards would be deployed for doctors safety at the sprawling government-run hospital in south Delhi.

The strike began earlier in the day after the Wednesday evening assault by a woman patient on a resident doctor.

Alleging she was not being properly treated the patient first got into a row with the woman doctor and then assaulted her. The incident happened in the gynaecology ward.

The Ministry also sought a proposal from the hospital to increase the number of junior and senior resident doctors to cope with the rising number of patients.

--IANS
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