Docs threaten strike over fireman’s misconduct

Our Correspondent

Abohar, August 16

An employee of the local fire station allegedly misbehaved with a doctor on emergency duty at Abohar Civil Hospital. The PCMS doctors said they would boycott emergencies if adequate action was not taken against the employee.

The doctors said an employee of the local fire station, Sukhwinder Singh, came to the hospital. They said he contacted Dr Suresh to get a fitness certificate, declaring him unfit so he could avail himself of leaves. However, the doctor expressed his inability to attend to him due to the strike that was observed due to the ‘Kolkata incident’.

Services at the 100-bed Civil Hospital came to a halt due to the strike; however, Dr Dharamveer Arora decided to help serious patients in the emergency ward. Thus, Sukhwinder approached Dr Arora for the fitness certificate. When the doctor told him about the strike, the latter allegedly misbehaved with the doctor and created a ruckus in the emergency.

Dr Arora informed his colleagues and the Senior Medical Officer (SMO), Dr Neerja Gupta. The SMO informed the Abohar Deputy Superintendent of Police and Fazilka Civil Surgeon and demanded strict action against the fireman.

The PCMS doctors condemned the incident and said that if the police did not take stringent action against the erring fireman, they would stop the emergency services too and go on an indefinite strike. They said the police would be responsible for that. They said the footage of this entire incident was also captured on the cameras of the hospital.

City-1 police station in-charge Pramila Rani said the police were searching for the fireman and suitable action would be taken against him according to the law.

Meanwhile, the reception counter in the hospital that has an average of 400 to 500 outpatients today remained closed.