Patna: Fed up with repeated assaults by patients' relatives, Bihar's doctors are taking security in their own hands.

A group of 55 private doctors in Motihari in East Champaran, around 153km north of Patna, have hired a "special task force" to provide them security. Their compatriots in Muzaffarpur hired such a force around eight months ago, and in Sitamarhi five months ago.

The Motihari doctors said they have seen very little effort from the government in providing them security even after back-to-back attacks.

"The private doctors in Motihari have hired the services of our company, Catch Security Agency," said Sadan Mohan, managing director of the agency.

The force will patrol in the morning and at night the clinics of the doctors who have hired their services. "Besides, the force would be stationed in groups at a particular doctor's clinic in shifts, and in case any incident happens, doctors are supposed to contact the force immediately," Mohan said.

He said the force is manned by people with security experience, including former army jawans, and some have also been provided with arms. "Our security personnel are all above 169cm tall and weigh more than 70kg," he added.

Soon after the force started working on April 1, it helped a doctor at whose clinic a patient's attendants were creating a ruckus.

"The force was informed about the incident around midnight. They rushed to Dr Rajeev Ranjan's hospital," Mohan said. "They found a huge crowd had assembled and the doctors were hiding inside closed chambers. The force removed the gathering and allowed only patients' attendants inside. First, we talk; if people don't listen, we evict them forcefully."

C.B. Singh, a Motihari doctor who has played a role in hiring the security force, said: "Many doctors have been assaulted and their clinics have been ransacked by patients' relatives but in majority of the cases police reached doctor's clinic when everything was over. The force hired by us is not only for our security but also for the patients' security because doctors cannot treat a patient if they are scared for their own security."

He said that each doctor was paying around Rs 10,000 per month for the force.

Dr Sanjay Kumar, a psychiatrist at Shri Krishna Medical College and Hospital who was behind the security push in Muzaffarpur, said the arrangement is more effective than security arrangements made by individual doctors.

"One doctor would pay Rs 10,000 for hiring one security guard, but if 10 doctors spend Rs 1 lakh we can hire more personnel who collectively can provide security to us," he said. "There are 800 doctors in Muzaffarpur but only 55 have joined hands for the force. Security will be provided to doctors who are paying for the force."