Tirupati: Amid a nationwide outcry for improved safety measures for doctors following the horrifying rape and murder at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, another distressing incident occurred at Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS) in Tirupati. A woman junior doctor was violently attacked by a patient, and the entire episode was captured on the hospital’s CCTV cameras.
The shocking CCTV footage shows the attacker, reportedly identified as Bangaru Raju, grabbing the doctor by her hair and forcefully banging her head against the steel frame of a hospital bed. Other doctors in the ward quickly intervened, overpowering the attacker and preventing further harm.
In a letter to SVIMS director cum vice-chancellor Dr RV Kumar, the intern said she was on duty in the Emergency Medicine Department on Saturday. “I was unexpectedly attacked by a patient, Bangaru Raju, who approached me from behind, pulled my hair and began forcibly banging my head against the steel rod of a cot,” she wrote, adding that no security personnel were present at the site to help her.
According to the report, she said the incident raises serious concerns about safety at the workplace. “If the patient had been armed with a sharp weapon, the situation could have escalated with severe consequences,” the doctor wrote. The junior doctor also pointed out that no security personnel were present at the site at the time of the incident. Following the incident, doctors of the hospital staged a protest and demanded safety at the workplace.