Hospitals in Dimapur wear deserted look over nationwide protest

DIMAPUR — Hospitals in Dimapur wore a deserted look on Saturday as all healthcare facilities, both government and private, joined the nationwide 24-hour cease-work agitation called by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to protest the rape and murder of postgraduate student at RG Kar Medical College, Kolkata on August 9, and the subsequent vandalism at the health facility.

The Out Patient Departments (OPDs) of all hospitals in Dimapur were closed on Saturday, though emergency services were made available. The doctors at District Hospital Dimapur also wore black badges to show their solidarity with the victim.

Harassment in Nagaland hospital

Meanwhile, a senior doctor working at a hospital in Dimapur shared with Eastern Mirror that there were cases where relatives of patients verbally harass the medical staff, and sometimes even physically.

It (harassment) happens from time to time in the hospital, but most of the time we resolve without involving the police, said the doctor.

Narrating some instances, the doctor said that some attendants demand specific doctors to attend to their patients, and when they are told that the doctor they asked for is not available or in night time, they lose their cool.

There are also cases when the attendants start creating ruckus when patients succumb to their illness after being admitted in the hospital. Sometime, inebriated attendants create commotion in the hospital and even harass the nurses, but the health facility authorities try to solve such situation amicably without involving the police, it was informed.

The doctor stated that such incidents happen in all the hospitals in the state, adding that not all attendants and patients create commotion but it happens every now and then.

The doctor also opined that the state may have a high literacy rate but it doesn’t correspond to the medical knowledge, saying that some people keep complaining if they are not cured by a single injection or medicine.

Also read: Healthcare services hit as Nagaland doctors protest rape, murder at Kolkata hospital