Shimla hospital brawl resolved after doctor and patient apologise, shake hands to settle the matter | VIDEO
The IGMC assault row in Shimla has come to an amicable end after both the patient and the doctor agreed to settle the matter. With both sides accepting their mistakes and formally reconciling, the tension at the hospital has eased.
The recently-erupted dispute between a patient and a doctor at Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMC), the biggest medical institution in Himachal Pradesh's Shimla, has finally been resolved. As per the details, both parties have reached a mutual agreement and decided to end the matter on a positive note. During the reconciliation, the patient and the accused doctor shook hands and embraced each other to signal the end of the conflict. Both admitted their mistakes and agreed to move forward. The parents of both individuals were also present during the settlement.
According to the information, the agreement was facilitated at the state secretariat in the office of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's media advisor Naresh Chauhan. The two sides held discussions in his presence and eventually reached consensus. The incident had previously created tension at IGMC, where doctors' organisations had staged protests. With the settlement now complete, the hospital administration and the health department have breathed a sigh of relief.
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Both sides accept their mistakes
Speaking to the media after the settlement, Dr Raghav Narula said that the incident was the result of mistakes from both ends. "Now that there has been an agreement between us, all the grievances have gone away... We both hugged each other and said sorry and now everything is fine," he added.
Patient confirms closure of dispute
Meanwhile, patient Arjun Panwar also confirmed that the matter has been resolved. "The doctor has accepted his mistake and apologised and I have also decided to close the matter...Now I don't want to comment on what happened at that time and how... When an apology has been made, the matter ends there," he added.
It is worth mentioning here that the development comes days after the Himachal Pradesh government had terminated the services of the doctor for getting into the physical altercation with the patient at the hospital. Following this, a prominent doctors’ body threatened to go on a mass casual leave on Friday (December 26), demanding immediate reinstatement of the medic. The Resident Doctors' Association (RDA) of the Indira Gandhi Medical College had also threatened to go on strike if their demand to revoke the termination order of Dr Raghav Narula was not met.
What was the incident?
A viral video of the confrontation, which took place in the pulmonary ward of the IGMC on Monday, showed the doctor punching the patient in the face, while the patient was seen trying to kick the doctor. Arjun Singh, a resident of Kupvi in Shimla district, had gone to the hospital for a bronchoscopy and felt breathlessness following the procedure. He alleged that the dispute started over the doctor's choice of words. Singh claimed he objected when the doctor addressed him as "tu" instead of "tum", which made Narula “aggressive”. However, Narula maintained that it was Singh who instigated the fight by using “abusive language” against him and his family.
(Inputs from Reshma Kashyap)
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