Muzaffarpur: Patient care at the government sadar hospital came to a grinding halt on Wednesday after doctors and paramedical staff boycotted work in protest against a doctor being assaulted by a patient's attendants on Tuesday night.

Hundreds of patients who had come to the hospital on Wednesday had to go back without their health-care needs addressed. They blamed the district health authorities' handling of the situation.

Deputy superintendent of police (city)Mukul Ranjan rushed to the hospital to take stock of the situation and persuaded the angry hospital staff to resume duty.

The DSP said the agitating hospital staff were demanding safety and security, and proper action against troublemakers who the doctors say often misbehave with doctors and nurses especially during the night. The DSP said that one section of armed police have been deployed at the hospital for night duty.

The present conflict was sparked on Tuesday night when a doctor, Girdhari Lal, was heckled and roughed up by a handful of attendants of Rohit Kumar, an injured patient. Rohit was brought to the hospital with serious head injuries he had sustained when he was attacked near Motijheel under the Town police station area. He was injured when he resisted the robbers, who eventually looted was Rs 30,000 from him.

Rohit's attendants, according to the hospital staff, created a ruckus claiming that the quality of care at the hospital was poor. This led to a heated exchange of words between the doctors and the attendants. Girdhari Lal, who was on duty, was allegedly manhandled by several relatives of Rohit. Angry over what they called growing incidents of misconduct by attendants, the doctors and staff boycotted emergency and outdoor services.