The Bombay High Court on Friday asked Maharashtra Government to take adequate security measures in public hospitals and deploy policemen to ensure that doctors were not harassed by relatives of patients. “If security measures are not undertaken, then the doctors would work in an atmosphere of fear and this would not be in their interest as well as in the interest of the public,” a bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka said.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by social activist Afaq Mandviya challenging strike by Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD). During the hearing, MARD said that the Government has not taken security measures to protect them from physical assaults by relatives of ailing patients, who are not satisfied with the treatment provided to their kith and kin.