First call to cop helpline from South Kolkata hospital after NRS attack

KOLKATA: A hospital in Bhowanipore became the first to take help of the new helpline, introduced after the assault on junior doctors at NRS Hospital, and seek police help, after one of their staff members was attacked by two women with a slipper around 2.15am on Saturday.
On receiving a distress call on 18003458246 from a doctor at Ramrik Das Harlalka Hospital, Lalbazar assured them of help and within minutes, sent a team, including female cops, as the offenders were women.The matter was settled amicably, with the accused apologizing for their behaviour.
Several doctors at the hospital said they were satisfied with the prompt police action, calling it “a good confidence-building initiative.” “We had to respond quickly. As women cops from Lalbazar might have taken longer to reach the Bhowanipore hospital, they were sent from Park Street, the south division headquarters. We were at the spot in as little as seven minutes,” said an officer from the Bhowanipore police station, who received an SOS from the Lalbazar Control Room.
The helpline was introduced by Lalbazar after doctors across the state went on a weeklong agitation last month following the assault on junior doctors at NRS by the family members of a patient who had died. Two of the doctors were so severely injured that they had to be in hospital for several days and are yet to resume work. Before the doctors agreed to withdraw their protest, which had crippled the state’s healthcare system, they met chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who called for the introduction of the helpline.
The police said a 28-year-old Baruipur resident, Barun Chakraborty, had been admitted to Ramrik Das hospital with multiple complications for about a week and he died around 12.15am on Saturday. As the news was broken to the family members—a male relative and the two women—present at the hospital, they allegedly called it a case of negligence. An argument continued, some hospital employees tried to reason with them, but the women reportedly attacked one of them, forcing a doctor to seek police help. “The situation became normal after cop intervention. There is no report of damage,” a hospital official told TOI.