NEW DELHI: In a horrific incident, a 55-year-old doctor was shot dead at a private nursing home in Delhi's Jaitpur area last night, just weeks after the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College.
As per the hospital staff, two teenage boys came late at night. One of them requested a dressing change over the injured toe which was treated at the night by hospital. When the dressing over, they requested prescription and went to the cabin of Dr Javed Akhtar, an Unani medicine practitioner.
Within a few minutes, nursing staff members Gajala Parveen and Md Kamil heard the sound of a gunshot. They ran to the doctor's cabin and found him bleeding from a head wound.
The police think these are a case of targeted killing. In fact, the visit the suspects paid last night might have been for recce. The patients of the hospital have informed the police that the suspects were around 16 or 17 years old. The authorities of the hospital are examining CCTV footage taken inside the premises to fix the identity of the attackers.
This was barely two months after the rape and murder of a doctor on night duty in one of the state-run hospitals in Kolkata, that evoked nationwide protests by doctors demanding safety measures for medical professionals.
The Supreme Court, acting on the rape incident and and the widespread protests by healthcare workers following the Kolkata rape, set up a National Task Force that suggested several measures to be taken to protect doctors while on the job.
A recent shooting at a Delhi hospital has given the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) new grounds to criticize the Centre and Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena over the worsening law and order situation in the city. Citing Delhi Police is controlled by central government and not by the local administration, AAP leaders hold them responsible.
Delhi minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said, "Delhi has turned out to be the crime capital—where gangsters work with impunity, where extortion calls come frequently, shoot-out and murder are routine. The Central Government and Lt. Governor have failed in their basic duties to Delhi."
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