New Delhi: The prolonged protest over the delay in NEET-PG 2021 counselling has taken a dramatic turn as doctors and police personnel faced off in the streets of the national capital Delhi with both sides claiming several persons suffered the injury in the ensuing melee. The stir, led by the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA), said that several of its members were “detained” when they tried to hold a protest march from Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) to Supreme Court.
“We tried to march from the campus of the Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) to Supreme Court, but soon after we had started it, security personnel did not allow us to proceed,” FORDA president Manish said. He also alleged that several doctors were “detained” by a police force, and taken to police station premises, before being released after some time. He also alleged that “police force was used and many doctors were injured” during their dramatic face-off. However, police denied allegations of lathicharge or use of abusive language from their end, and said, 12 protestors were detained and released later.
“Resident doctors, the so-called ‘Corona Warriors’, protesting peacefully to expedite NEET PG Counselling 2021 were brutally thrashed, dragged, and detained by the police,” it alleged. “There will be a complete shutdown of all healthcare institutions from today onwards,” the statement said. In an official statement issued later, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Rohit Meena said that a group of resident doctors deliberately created nuisance on the main road and blocked both carriageways, causing hardship and harassment to commuters and the general public. The police have registered FIRs against the protesting doctors under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for Covid violations, rioting and damage to public property among others, police said.
Last Tuesday, a group of doctors had thrown flowers on security barricades, and clanged utensils and clapped in front of the Nirman Bhawan here, saying they were symbolically “returning” the adulation showered on them for being Covid warriors. It is pertinent to note that the original NEET PG exam was scheduled in January 2021 but postponed in view of the first and second wave of COVID-19 and held on September 12, 2021. However, due to the legal impediments of the Supreme Court now the Counselling is withheld resulting in a shortage of 45,000 doctors in the frontline.