Departmental action should be initiated against police personnel who manhandled doctors, committee concludes
It follows reports that personnel from Maharajgunj Police Circle manhandled three doctors returning from work on Wednesday night. In this file photo, police personnel stop a two-wheeler for defying the nationwide lockdown imposed by the government amid concerns about the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on April 8, 2020. Sanjog Manandhar/TKP
Departmental action should be initiated against police personnel who reportedly manhandled three doctors in Kathmandu on Wednesday night, an official investigating the incident said.
The security personnel from Maharajganj Police Circle reportedly manhandled three doctors, two from Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital and one from Kanti Children’s Hospital, while returning home after their shift on Wednesday night.
“We held a meeting with the doctors at the health ministry this afternoon as part of our investigation,” said Deputy Superintendent Hobindra Bogati of Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, a member of the Senior Superintendent Kiran Bajracharya-led committee.
“We reached a conclusion that departmental action should be initiated against personnel involved in manhandling the doctors,” said Bogati after
The probe team invited the doctors and the police personnel involved in the incident for a discussion.
The Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Range said on Thursday that Deputy Superintendent Umesh Lamsal from Maharajgunj Police Circle has been recalled to the Metropolitan Police Office, Ranipokhari, for investigation.
On Thursday morning, Nepal Medical Association, the organisation of doctors, denounced police action and demanded that those involved be brought to the book.
"The government on April 4 passed a decision that the home ministry shall ensure security for doctors, nurses and technical health workers involved in the prevention, control and treatment of Covid-19,” the association said in a statement. “But such a condemnable incident with the doctors has stunned us.”
If action is not taken against the guilty, it could affect healthcare services across the country, the statement read.
“Nepal Medical Association wants to warn the government and all other concerned not to create a situation that will cause health workers and doctors to stop working on the frontline during such sensitive times.”
The incident on Wednesday night came amid criticism that law enforcement agencies have been using unwarranted force against civilians to enforce the lockdown.
The government first imposed the lockdown on March 24 and since has extended it three times, with the latest extension applicable until April 27.
As per government instructions, police have beefed up security in the Capital.
Shuvam Dhungana was a crime and social affairs reporter for The Kathmandu Post. Before joining the Post, Dhungana worked for The Himalayan Times and Republica.
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