The Bengal Doctors Crisis doesn’t appear to be getting resolved anytime soon. With doctors shutting down services demanding increased security, attacks on them have only escalated further since Monday night. Now, we have received reports that a student at the Calcutta National Medical College (CNMC) has been injured following mob violence.
Abhishek Kumar Shaw, a second-year student at the institution, was injured when a mob attacked the Institute on Friday afternoon even as doctors across the state have been submitting their resignations. We were told by a source that there wasn’t adequate security present at the scene when the attack occurred. As per sources, only two Policemen were present while the mob was huge. The attack happened sometime around 4.30 p.m. on Friday afternoon.
“A lot of people gathered at Gate No. 3 of our institution. They started pelting stones, Shaw was injured in the process. It was a head injury. Only 2 Policemen were present, they were requested to increase the security but unfortunately, they did not. The mob carried a lot of stones, too, wonder where they got all those stones from,” we were told.
Since medical institutions shut down services in protest against the attack on doctors and interns at the NRS Medical College and Hospital on Monday night, mobs have attacked doctors and interns at Burdwan Medical College and Hospital and CNMC and attacks have been reported from other institutions as well.
The attack at CNMC on Friday marked the second such attack at the institution since Monday. Earlier, two rooms at the Boys’ Hostel in the institution were set on fire, allegedly, with kerosene bombs. In all these situations, the Police were either mute spectators or completely ill-prepared to stop the attacks.
It is truly an unprecedented situation in the state as mass resignations continue to pour from medical institutions across the state. It is important to remember that discussions were underway to resolve the situation when Mamata Banerjee derailed the process by threatening the medical fraternity. Since then, the situation has become infinitely worse.
