#standwithNRS: Social media users slam attack

KOLKATA: As doctors across hospitals on Wednesday mounted protests against Monday night’s attack on junior doctors at NRS Medical College and Hospital, social media users showed solidarity with the protesters online. Hashtags like #standwithNRS and #SavetheDoctor trended on Twitter and Facebook throughout the day. While some demanded exemplary punishment for the culprits, others reminded the medical community of their responsibility towards citizens.
An online campaign for signing a petition was launched on Tuesday itself, demanding all doctors to unite against the system that doesn’t pay heed to their security requirements. Ivy Dasgupta, an assistant professor at Bhawanipur Education Society College, was one of many who signed and circulated it. “I strongly condemn the incident and hope a proper investigation is carried out from both sides so that we get the complete story,” she said.
Several protesting students, like Sumedha Bhattacharjee, a resident medical officer working at the ICU at BP Poddar Hospital, uploaded protest videos and several written posts to voice her solidarity. “We doctors don’t want to be worshipped, but we want to be considered human beings who strive to save lives. The incident that took place in NRS is a living example of the sad scenario we doctors live in where our lives are threatened while we work towards saving others. There is almost no one ensuring our safety. If this barbarism continues, the health facilities of the nation will really suffer,” she said.
. Many doctors and students used medical scans of the injured intern’s skull as their display picture to show their solidarity with the ongoing movement and condemn the brutality of the incident. One of them, medical practitioner Prabhas Prasun Giri, said, “Incidents where goons have vandalised hospitals and assaulted doctors are nothing new. As doctors we face an ethical dilemma where we have to negotiate between our responsibilities and reactions. During such incidents, we are bound to protest, but at the back of our minds, there’s a constant reminder of our responsibility towards patients.”
Arindam Biswas, a consulting physician at NH Rabindranath Tagore Hospital, took to Facebook to condemn the incident and request the government and political organisations to formulate strong measures to curb attacks on doctors.