Senior doctor assaulted over patient’s death in Jharkhand

A mob assaulted a senior doctor and former Dhanbad’s civil surgeon Dr Kameshwar Prasad, 66, after pulling him out of a train. The mob dragged the doctor to the nearest police station where a complaint was lodged against him for negligence that caused a patient’s death.

The incident was reported on Tuesday evening when the mob comprising family members of the deceased patient swooped down on Dr Prasad, on board to a Ranchi bound train, at Gomoh railway station. They pulled him out of the train, thrashed him and dragged him to the nearest Topchanchi police station, about 45 km from Dhanbad.

Topchachi police station officer-in-charge Lakhan Ram said, “An FIR has been registered against the doctor under Sections 284 (negligent conduct with respect to poisonous substance) and 304 A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).”

“Dr Prasad has been kept under custody since last evening for security point of view. We will release him after securing a personal bond from him,” he said.

Complainant Jitu Saw alleged that he took his 23-year-old son AshokKumar,whowassuffering from jaundice, to Dr Prasad’s clinic at Topchanchi market on Tuesday morning. He had administered an injection with saline to check vomit and sent the patient back. By Wednesday afternoon, the patient’s condition further deteriorated. Dr Prasad then referred him for hospitalisation in Dhanbad.

“I had shifted my son to Dhanbad’s Asharfi Hospital where he died in the evening. The hospital had reported that poison had spread in my son’s body due to wrong treatment,” Saw alleged.

As death report reached to family members, villagers became irate and ransacked Dr Prasad’s clinic. After getting reports that he was going to Ranchi, the mob reached Gomoh railway station.