After assault during emergency duty, Cooper Hospital doctors resume work but say fear still looms large despite BMC’s security boost; However, the shock of Saturday’s assault still lingers among the medical staff — especially for Dr Prashant Bhadke, one of the doctors attacked during the chaos
Screengrabs from the viral video showing the assault on doctors at Cooper Hospital on Saturday. Pic/By Special Arrangement
After receiving assurances from the BMC and hospital administration, doctors at Juhu’s Cooper Hospital called off their strike on Monday and resumed duties. However, the shock of Saturday’s assault still lingers among the medical staff — especially for Dr Prashant Bhadke, one of the doctors attacked during the chaos. Recounting the ordeal, he told mid-day, that in all his years as a doctor, he has never faced something like this and wishes this is the last time any doctor has to go through such horror.
Describing the incident, Dr Bhadke said, “Around 12-12.15 am on Saturday, a 57-year-old woman, Sajeeda Shaikh, was brought in with severe breathlessness by her son Samir Abdul Jabbar Shaikh and a female relative. I was attending to other patients, but seeing her condition, I immediately began treating her while asking my interns to handle the rest.The patient was gasping, her temperature was very low, and there were no vitals. We started warming her hands and checking her pulse oximeter, but her oxygen levels and pulse were nearly gone. We shifted her to the emergency room within seconds.”
Despite immediate CPR and ECG checks by the team, the patient was declared dead. “As soon as the CMO [chief medical officer] informed the relatives, the male relative began shouting, threatening, and then suddenly attacking us,” Dr Bhadke said. “They hit me on my face, head, back, and abdomen. When my colleague, Dr Karan, tried to intervene, he was assaulted too. We were saved only because someone, perhaps an officer or another patient’s relative, stepped in.”
Security stepped up
Speaking to mid-day, Dr Neelam Andrade, director of BMC Medical Hospitals, said, “We have increased security from five to eight personnel per shift. We’re also checking if permission was previously granted to deploy Maharashtra Security Force [MSF] personnel when the hospital became a major civic facility in 2022. If yes, MSF will be deployed immediately. If not, we’ve initiated a new application, a process that usually takes three months but will be fast-tracked. Staff will also receive training to handle emergencies, and all security guards will now have walkie-talkies for coordination.”
‘Fear still remains’
While doctors have resumed work, they say safety concerns remain. “We’re back on duty because our first responsibility is toward patients,” said one resident doctor. “But unless there is accountability and real legal protection, every doctor will continue to work in fear. Hospitals must be safe, for both patients and caregivers.”
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