Balasore, Aug. 19: A doctor in Balasore district headquarters hospital was assaulted by relative of a patient today.

Bharat Chandra Samal, a medicine specialist at the district headquarters hospital, was brutally assaulted by the father of a patient who died this afternoon.

The patient, Krishna Dey, 22, of Balgopalpur, was admitted to the hospital yesterday for pancreatic ailments. As his condition deteriorated, the doctors advised his family members to immediately shift him to the SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack today.

Around 3pm, when they were about to shift him to the Cuttack hospital, they found him motionless. Later, the doctors declared him dead.

The father of the deceased, Ramnarayan Dey, 55, got infuriated and attacked Samal saying, "You killed my son."

"He threw a chair and a table at me when I was in my cabin. Then he hit me with an iron rod, " said Samal.

Chief district medical officer Bhabani Shankar Pani said Samal suffered injuries on his head. "He had four stitches on his head. He had to be admitted to the ICU," said Pani.

Police detained Dey after the incident. "The investigation is under way," said inspector-in-charge of Town police station Dillip Sahu.

Relatives of the deceased have also lodged a complaint with the police alleging negligence on the behalf of the doctor. The health secretary Arti Ahuja, however, today wrote to the state home secretary urging him to ensure the safety and the security of working doctors.

Ahuja wrote in her letter: "In the recent months, it has been observed that doctors are being manhandled on the pretext of wrong treatment. This has led to a feeling of insecurity among them and other staff working in the health institutions across the state."

Yesterday, four doctors submitted their resignation papers and 25 abstained from their work at the Puri district headquarters hospital following an alleged assault on their colleague at the medical facility.

Referring to the Orissa Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2009, Ahuja urged the home secretary to ask the police stations to include the provisions of the Act in the FIRs. The Act provides stringent penal provision of imprisonment up to three years and a fine up to Rs 50,000.

The heath secretary also suggested opening of police outposts in all referral hospitals, district headquarter and sub-divisional hospitals.