Facing a police case for slapping a doctor at a live concert in the Capital recently, pop singer Mika Singh has also earned the ire of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), which has decided to boycott him from all its functions. The IMA has over 2.15 lakh doctors as its members and 1,650 active local branches spread all over the country. Outraged at Singh’s misbehavior, the association has asked the medical fraternity not to invite the controversial celebrity in any of their programme in future and also boycott all his functions.
It has also appealed the doctors to not to buy his albums and CDs to protest the physical assault on victim Shrikant, an ophthalmologist who has suffered some injury in his left ear. Said Dr KK Aggarwal, Secretary General of the Association, “ this is not the first time that the singer has shown his immaturity at the events oraganised by our members. I have come to know that way back in 2008-09 he had misbehaved similarly with a doctor at a function.”
That time he had apologized and we had also forgiven him, Aggarwal said. We have taken suo moto action asking our members not to invite the singer at any of their function. But final call will be theirs only, added Dr A Marthanda Pillai, IMA President. Dr Pillai also referred to a recent case in Allahabad, where the relatives of a patients assaulted a doctor and said that there is a need to bring a Central Ordinance followed by a Central Act regarding attack on medical professionals while on duty.
In 14 States Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property Act/Ordinance is in place which makes such offense a non-bailable offense. These States include Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Harayna, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Tripura and West Bengal.