• Asha Sharan
Thrashed by a patient's attendants at her private nursing home, Sharan's Clinic, on Binodpur Road in Katihar

I reached my nursing home around 10am on June 20 like usual. As soon as I reached the clinic, my 24-hour staff told me that the previous night (June 19) he had an altercation with the attendants of a patient, Puja, when my employees asked them not to move around on the clinic premises at night.

Private hospitals usually don't allow attendants inside the premises at night. As far as my clinic is concerned, many patients come with women attendants who stay with the patients. So, we have to restrict entry of attendants at night for safety reasons.

My employees told me Puja's brother had brought food around 11.30pm and when my staff objected to his entering the hospital so late, his brother started an argument. I got busy with my work after hearing what my staff had to say. I went on my rounds of the clinic. When I reached Puja's bed, I told her sister-in-law about her husband's misbehaviour with my staff, reminding her of our institution's strict rules. I did not say a word to the patient (Puja) but her sister-in-law got angry. She said private hospitals usually didn't have such rules and she went on to say kaun cheez ka paisa nahi diya hai (We haven't paid for which service?).

I was angry after listening to this and told her that her family had deposited only a little amount of the total hospital fee so far. I also told her that if she isn't liking our services, she is free to take the patient somewhere else. I then started checking patients in the outpatient department. Soon, I could hear people shouting outside. My employees informed me that Puja's attendants were screaming. I told my staff to let one attendant enter but to my surprise a group of six people entered my chamber. Screaming, they asked me how I had dared to ask Puja's sister-in-law to take the patient to some other facility. They were continuously hurling abuses at me. I explained why I had said so but the attendants kept shouting. I told them I would call the police. When I said this, one of the attendants hit me on my head with the weighing machine that was in my chamber. I was again hit on the head with a chair. I fell unconscious. My lips were bleeding and a tooth had almost fallen off.

The mob left the chamber soon after they saw I was bleeding from my mouth. I am still having antibiotics for the haematoma (clotting of blood) in my head and also taking a dentist's help.

I am shaken but I am happy that I followed doctor's ethics even after the incident. I discharged the patient after five days. I had to remove Puja's stitches after her C-section. Even today, if Puja or any of her family members come to my clinic with any problem, being a doctor, I will give them the best treatment available at my end.

But I would take legal action against them for lynching my dignity.