The Indian Medical Association said that the police allegedly entering hospitals during stirs against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in violence-hit areas is ‘disturbing’. IMA also adds that such actions are unacceptable and the hospitals should be declared as ‘safe zones’.
According to IMA officials, they’ve received reports from association members that in certain areas that witnessed protests, the police had denied doctors access to detainees, entered hospitals and, at least in one instance, tried to barge into an intensive care unit.
“This is unacceptable. Everyone has the right to access medical care,” the IMA said. They also added that government functionaries had no right to deny anyone right access.
“This is a new low in the civic life of the nation, but not entirely unexpected given the impunity with which violence is heaped on doctors and hospitals. However, the difference this time is that it is the establishment which has lost its restraint,” IMA said in a statement on Sunday.
The IMA statement also refers to a video circulated among doctors that shows police officers purportedly barging into a hospital in Mangalore, apparently on the trail of protesters.
The video shows several policemen walking along a hospital corridor, where one of them kicks a door several times before they all walk away. A post on Twitter claims the policemen were in Mangalore’s Highland Hospital looking for protesters but they “lathi-charged everyone, including attendees”.
“All violence is unacceptable, especially those perpetrated by the state on people who require medical attention and care. Everyone should feel comfortable in the hands that heal. Indian doctors will never let down whoever requires care. No politics can dilute this resolve,” said IMA president Shantanu Sen and secretary-general R.V. Asokan.

Source: The Telegraph, Times Of India.

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