Amid the ongoing agitation and protests across India over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata, a doctor in Delhi was reportedly shot dead at a private nursing home in the early hours of Thursday by two teenagers who entered the facility on the pretext of getting a toe injury treated.
The incident took place at Nima Hospital in Jaitpur at around 1.30am, police said, adding that it appears to be a “targeted killing” as the suspects had visited the facility for treatment the previous night as well. Police suspect the previous visit was a recce.
According to the hospital’s staff, one of the teenagers asked for a change of dressing for his injured toe. He was treated at the hospital the night before.
After the dressing was done, the teenagers said they wanted a prescription and went to the room of Dr Javed Akhtar, a practitioner of Unani medicine (traditional medicine practised by Muslims in South and Central Asia).
Minutes later, nursing staff Gajala Parveen and Mohammed Kamil heard a gunshot. They rushed to the doctor’s room and found him bleeding from his head.
Deputy Police Commissioner Rajesh Deo said they were informed about the shooting at 1.45am. “When police arrived, they found that it was a three-bed nursing home called Nima Hospital. Inside, a man was found on a chair with his head on the table,” he said.
The hospital staff told police the suspects are aged 16 or 17. Police are now scanning the hospital’s CCTV footage to identify the suspects.
The incident comes less than two months after the Kolkata horror in which a trainee doctor on night shift was raped and murdered at a state-run hospital. The incident sparked nationwide protests by doctors demanding the safety of healthcare staff on duty.
The Supreme Court later set up a National Task Force to recommend steps to ensure doctors’ safety.
The Delhi shooting has given the state’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party fresh ammunition to target the Central government and Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena over the law and order situation in the national capital.
Delhi Police reports to the central government and not to the Delhi government.
“Delhi has become a crime capital – gangsters operating with ease, extortion calls and firings and daily murders. Central government and Lt Governor have failed in their basic work,” Delhi minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said.
The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (Forda), which was among the key organisations that led the doctors’ protests for safety during duty, questioned why doctors are becoming easy targets in hospitals.
“A doctor at Nima Hospital was shot dead at point blank range. According to Delhi Police, prima facie it’s a case of targeted killing – unprovoked and possibly planned,” Forda said in a post on X.
“An incident like this happening at workplace of a doctor, in the capital city of India? Isn’t this a blatant disregard for law and order in the city? Why are doctors becoming easy targets in the hospitals? Who will answer?”
In August, a female resident doctor and a medical dresser were attacked by a patient’s attendant in Delhi’s Doctor Hedgewar Hospital.
The patient, who was under the influence of alcohol, and his son pushed the doctor and also threatened her during the treatment.
