GUWAHATI, Sept 13: An Assam government official in Cachar district was beaten up with an iron rod allegedly by a group of junior doctors at Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH), a police official said on Tuesday.
The authorities suspended an intern doctor in connection with the incident.
Inspector of Drugs in the Directorate of Health Services, Bonrai Rongmei, had gone to SMCH to visit his ailing sister-in-law on Monday night and had asked a junior doctor about the blood tests when he misbehaved with him.
Rongmei alleged that the junior doctor asked him rudely whether he was educated enough to understand these things and even after he told them that he was a government employee, he continued to shout at him.
He claimed that as the arguments continued, several doctors gathered, dragged him to a corner, slapped him and began hitting him with an iron rod.
Following the incident, local people reached the hospital and started protesting against the doctors.
A police team reached the hospital and brought the situation under control, Cachar superintendent of police Numal Mahatta said.
‘‘We are investigating the matter and SMCH authorities are cooperating with us,” Mahatta said.
SMCH principal Dr Bhaskar Gupta and a team of doctors met district commissioner Rohan Kumar Jha on Tuesday and also the family members of the victim.
Gupta said that they have suspended an intern doctor for three months.
An inquiry committee has also been instituted to investigate the matter and if any other doctors are found involved in the incident, action will be taken against them, he said.
Meanwhile, All Assam Rongmei Naga Students Union condemned the incident, describing it as a hate crime and demanded immediate arrest of the accused doctors. (PTI