Assam doctor stages unique protest with stick during duty hours; pic goes viral

NAGAON: The assault on Dr. Seuj Kumar Senapati at Udali COVID-19 Care Centre in Middle Assam's Hojai has triggered outrage across Assam, and rightfully so.

The medical fraternity in the state and beyond has been enraged by what happened to the young doctor and protests have been carried out demanding extra security for the medical personnel who are already under distress due to the spike of COVID-19 cases in the second wave.

Against this backdrop, a doctor from Middle Assam's Nagaon district caught the eye for a very unique protest that has gone viral on social media platforms.

Dr. Diganta Bora, a surgeon at the Bhogeswari Phukoni Civil Hospital in was seen examining patients and writing prescriptions while holding a stick in his hand.

The picture of the doctor with a stick in one hand and a pen in the other soon spread like wildfire on social media.

Dr. Diganta Bora told the media that the stick was not for beating the patients, but was rather, his unique way of protesting against the rise in barbaric acts against doctors.

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Bora revealed that he too has faced many unpleasant situations where the kin and kith of the patients misbehaved with him.

Through the media, he urged upon the public in general to understand the role of doctors and to look at them with empathy.

There has been a huge uptick in the violence against the medical fraternity amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

After this Hojai incident, 4 persons were arrested by police in Cachar for allegedly misbehaving with the medical team when they went to do Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) in Kalain Tea Garden area.

In another such incident, a doctor in Hailakandi Civil Hospital, Dr. Gaurab Bhattacharya, had filed an FIR alleging assault by family members of a COVID patient, who died soon after he was brought to the hospital. Two arrests were made on 4 June in connection to this case.

Even the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has taken strong note of such incidents of manhandling doctors and other healthcare professionals.

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