Health workers, police attacked in some states

WHILE ASHA WORKERS WERE ATTACKED IN BENGALURU, TWO WOMEN DOCTORS WERE SURROUNDED BY A

MOB IN INDORE

BENGALURU/BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh police arrested seven people on Thursday for allegedly attacking and hurling stones at two doctors in Indore, the latest in a string of assaults on frontline health workers by local residents across India, complicating the already uphill battle against the coronavirus disease.

The attack in Indore came on the same day a group of Asha workers were attacked and their belongings snatched in Bengaluru, policemen and medical personnel were pelted with stones in Bihar and local residents clashes with law-enforcement authorities in West Bengal. Also on Wednesday, relatives of a 49-year-old coronavirus patient who died at a government hospital assaulted the doctor and the staff on duty, alleging negligence.

In Indore, the two women doctors were surrounded by a mob when they asked an elderly local woman, who was suspected to have come in contact with a Covid-19 patient, to accompany the medical team for tests. Television visuals showed the 100-strong mob chasing the doctors and hurling stones at them.

“We have been visiting the locality for the past three days for the screening of residents. We had information about a person coming in contact with a Covid-19 patient…we were talking to the person (the elderly woman) when, all of a sudden, residents got agitated and attacked us,” said one of the doctors.