Two persons, including a 36-year-old woman patient, were arrested by the Vellore Taluk police on Monday (March 4, 2024) evening, for assaulting a second-year postgraduate medical student at the Government Medical College Hospital in Vellore.
Police said the arrested persons were identified as S. Subha (36), a resident of Sathumadurai village near Vellore town, and her friend R. Diwakar (35), a native of Tiruvannamalai.
According to police, Ms. Subha, a school teacher, was admitted at the hospital for a urinary tract infection, a week ago. She was treated at the women’s ward in the first block of the hospital.
On Monday evening, Ms. Subha’s friend, Mr. Diwakar visited her in ward. Around 5.30 p.m ,when the duty doctor S. Vishal (26), a native of Chennai, was on rounds, he claimed to have seen Diwakar lying on the patient’s bed. When the doctor asked where the patient was, Diwakar said that she had gone to the restroom. The doctor objected to the presence of male visitors in the women’s ward and asked Diwarkar to leave the ward immediately.
An argument broke out between the doctor and Diwarkar over the manner in which he was asked to leave the ward. By that time, Ms. Subha came to the ward and joined her friend. Both sides exchanged blows. Finally Ms. Subha slapped the duty doctor with slippers for insulting her friend, police said.
Hospital authorities alerted the Vellore Taluk police who rushed to the spot and conducted an inquiry. Based on a complaint from Dr. Vishal, who was treated as an outpatient for neck injuries, a case was registered under The Tamil Nadu Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage or Loss to Property) Act, 2008 (also known as the Hospital Protection Act) and sections of the IPC against the woman patient and her friend.
Later, Diwakar was arrested and lodged at the Central Prison in Vellore. As Ms. Subha was undergoing treatment at the hospital, police personnel have been deployed at the ward.
