Bhubaneswar, Oct. 25: The state health department today sought police protection to ensure safety and security of doctors, being worried over the growing incidents of attack on them.

Health secretary R.K. Ahuja, in a letter to home secretary C.J. Venugopal, said: “There have been several incidents of attacks on doctors and other employees working at various health care institutions across the state, on the excuse of neglect in treatment and wrong treatment, which were reported over the recent weeks. As a result, they are not feeling safe and scared.”

Ahuja urged the home secretary to direct all the police stations to ensure security to the doctors and paramedics.

She also wanted the police to register a case under the Medicare Rules enacted in 2009 against the attackers and start prosecution against them.

On October 14, the city witnessed a murder of an orthopaedic specialist Atyula Chandra Meher by a medical representative. The accused — Sneha Sakshar Samal — later confessed to have killed the doctor, as he had been prescribed costly tests.

On September 21, Durbadal Mishra, a paediatrician in Sonepur, suffered the same fate. Pratyush Panda and two of his friends killed him, as he blamed the doctor’s negligence in treatment for his nephew’s death.

On October 16, a mob ransacked a private nursing home at Kharavela Nagar after a 26-year-old youth died due to alleged negligence of doctors and other staff members of the health institution.

Secretary of the city branch of Indian Medical Association Saroj Kumar Sahu said: “Doctors are feeling unsafe following these incidents. This will demoralise them to treat patients.”

Nihar Samal, a senior medicine specialist at Capital Hospital, said: “We are serving the patients with utmost dedication. Still, we are at the receiving end without our fault. The state government should ensure a protected environment for the doctors, so that they can treat the patients without fear.”

In 2008, the state government had enacted a legislation called the Orissa Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act on the demands of the medical fraternity. However, the law has not been effectively implemented so far.