Doctor shot dead in Delhi hospital while demanding safety of medics

A 55-year-old doctor was shot dead at a private nursing home in Jaitpur in Delhi last night, less than two months after the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

According to Nima Hospital staff, two teenagers reached the hospital late at night. One of them asked for a bandage change for his injured toe. The teenager was treated in hospital the evening before. After the bandage was finished, the teens said they wanted a prescription and went to Dr. Javed Akhtar, a practitioner of Unani medicine.

Minutes later, nurses Gajala Parveen and Md Kamil heard a gunshot. They rushed to the doctor’s cabin and found him bleeding from the head.

Hospital staff told police the suspects could be 16 or 17 years old.

Police said the killings appeared to be targeted and that the attackers’ visit the night before could have been a reconnaissance visit.

Police are now scanning footage from surveillance cameras at the hospital to identify the suspects.

The incident comes less than two months after the horror in Calcutta in which a doctor was raped and murdered on the night shift at a government hospital. The incident in Kolkata sparked nationwide protests by doctors demanding the safety of health workers on duty.

In the wake of the Calcutta rape-murder and the doctors’ protest, the Supreme Court has set up a national task force to recommend measures to ensure the safety of doctors on duty.

Meanwhile, the Delhi hospital shooting has given fresh ammunition to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party to target the Center and Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena over the law and order situation in the national capital. The Delhi Police comes under the Center and not the Delhi government.

“Delhi has become a crime capital – gangsters operate with ease, extort calls and dismissals and murder on a daily basis. The Central Government and @LtGovDelhi have failed in their essential work for Delhi,” said Delhi Minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj.

The Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA), which was among the main organizations leading doctors’ protests for safety on duty, questioned why doctors in hospitals are becoming easy targets.

“A doctor at NIMA Hospital in #Delhi was shot dead at close range last night. According to @DelhiPolice, prima facie this is a case of targeted killing – unprovoked and possibly planned. Dr. Akhtar was a #BUMS practitioner. May his soul rest in peace. An incident like this at a doctor’s workplace in the capital of #India. Isn’t this a blatant disregard for #LawAndOrder in the city? Why are doctors becoming easy targets in hospitals? @LtGovDelhi @CMODelhi @AtishiAAP @ArvindKejriwal,” FORDA said in a post on X.