Mob beats up man in Kolkata's SSKM hospital compound, doctors raise security concern

Kolkata: A group of people assaulted a youth injuring him after entering the trauma care department of state-run SSKM Hospital in Kolkata on Sunday, officials said.

The incident came when a group of junior doctors were observing fast unto death nearby to press for their 10-point charter of demands including justice for the RG Kar hospital victim and stronger security measures in state-run medical facilities.

An SSKM Hospital official said the youth, who was accompanying his friends to the trauma care centre, was thrashed by around 15 men leaving him injured.

The attackers probably parked their vehicles outside the major referral hospital.

A Kolkata Police officer said there were reports that the youth was part of a gang which had clashed with a rival faction in a nearby area earlier in the day.

While members of one group came inside the hospital for treatment, the other one reached the facility and beat him up severely, he said.

"We are checking CCTV footage of the area to identify the attackers. The police have put up guard rails before the trauma care centre gate," the officer said.

The Hospital official said a relative of another patient was also beaten up by the gang members who used hockey sticks, rods and steel chains during the attack.

The incident comes close on the heels of the assault of woman medics and nursing staff at the College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital near Kolkata by relatives of a patient who died, triggering a fresh wave of agitation by the medics demanding security.

Utsa Hazra, a junior doctor of another hospital, told reporters that the SSKM incident put a question mark on the security at hospitals.

"If outsiders can enter into a tertiary hospital like SSKM and beat up patients with no intervention of the police, it only shows how hollow is the claim of hospital security by the administration," she said at the hunger strike site of junior doctors.

The hunger strike from October 5 followed nearly 50 days of ‘cease work’ in two phases. Their agitation began after an on-duty postgraduate trainee was allegedly raped and murdered inside state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.

While one person was arrested by the Kolkata Police the next day, the CBI is now investigating the case on a Calcutta High Court order.