IMA protests, says let law punish the guilty
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 23 2025: The Indian Medical Association (IMA), Manipur State Branch has called for a thorough enquiry and to let the law punish the guilty instead of taking the law into hand and assaulting medical professionals.

Suspending all routine OPDs, investigation services and routine OTs at all Government and private hospitals from 6 am today till 6 am of Wednesday, medical practitioners under the aegis of IMA Manipur State Branch today staged a sit-in-protest at IMA complex, Lamphelpat.

Speaking to media persons by the sideline of the protest demonstration, IMA Manipur State Branch Secretary Dr Soram Gautam Meetei said that they were protesting the frequent incidents of assaulting and targeting doctors and nurses at different Government and private hospitals when there were deaths or complications.

IMA protests, says let law punish the guilty

"We are protesting such incidents by suspending OPD service, investigation service, routine OT and diagnostic tests.

But our agitation does not cover emergency services", he said.

Following the unfortunate demise of Chingsubam Manju during child delivery at RIMS recently, a mob severely assaulted Dr Ch Pritamkumar and he is currently undergoing treatment in ICU, Dr Gautam said.

"Through this protest, we are trying to send a strong message that such actions are unacceptable", he said.

Usually, a patient comes to a hospital with the hope that all his/her medical problems will be solved by doctors.

But there are times when neither the necessary treatment facilities nor the doctors are available at the particular hospital.

Such problems are not the faults of doctors and nurses alone.

Assaulting doctors and nurses is not a solution to such problems, Dr Gautam said.

There are hospital management committees and Rogi Kalyan Samitis to look into these matters.

It would be far more positive if people highlight their grievances through proper channels and ask the hospital authorities to carry out thorough enquiries so as to address all their lapses and failures, he said.

No problem can be solved by assaulting doctors and nurses on duty.

If the problem is caused by a lack of facilities, the same problem will persist next day too, Dr Gautam said.

Doctors and nurses too have their families and they too have been suffering from the same problems, he said.

Doctors are not Gods and nothing can be farther from truth if any one is assuming that no one should die if taken care of by a doctor.

It is quite wrong to target or blame a doctor when a patient dies.

There are laws to find out if there were any lapses on the part of the doctors, Dr Gautam said.

There is the Manipur Medicare Service Personnel and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2015.Under this Act, people or organisations who commit violence against medical professionals and healthcare institutes are punishable.

The same Act incorporates penal provisions for doctors who are found guilty, he said.

As such, it would be better for everyone to approach all problems through legal channels, he asserted.

Dr Gautam said that no one benefits from mob violence.

Assaulting doctors and nurses would discourage them from handling critical cases in the future, he said.

Dr Gautam then called upon all the people to shun the culture of mob violence but adopt lawful approaches and let the law punish doctors and hospitals if they are found guilty.

"We have sought an appointment with the Governor but no appointment has been given yet", he said.

Following consecutive deaths at RIMS, people's grievances against RIMS have been growing.

The situation needs timely response from the RIMS Director.

The incident of assaulting Dr Pritamkumar was a cumulative reaction of the people's growing grievances, he said.

Nonetheless, medical treatment sometimes gets complicated unexpectedly and there are even deaths.

In such cases, people should focus on getting the incident probed thoroughly instead of targeting doctors and nurses immediately, Dr Gautam said.

If the enquiry finds any doctors and nurses guilty, they will definitely get the due punishment, he further asserted.