The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has terminated an AYUSH doctor on the charge of attempting to rape a Covid-19 woman patient under the pretext of giving her discharge from the Covid Care Centre at Padampura today morning.
The incident took place in the centre on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday at 2 am. The AMC municipal commissioner A K Pandey learnt about the complaint on Wednesday. He immediately ordered the municipal officer of health (MoH), Dr Neeta Padalkar, to probe the matter and submit the report to him by Thursday morning.
The woman was admitted to Padampura CCC two days ago. The doctor managed to get her phone number and was constantly harassing her by making phone calls. He attempted to rape the patient by taking her to the terrace of the centre at midnight. The woman opposed him and started screaming for help. Sensation prevailed at the centre, and the health staff intervened and rescued the lady. She was crying in an uncontrolled way in the hospital. When the relatives came to know about the incident, they got enraged and severely beat the doctor in the centre on March 2 at midnight. However, the victim had not lodged any police complaint on Wednesday.
Inquiry Report
While speaking to media persons today afternoon, Dr Neeta Padalkar said, " Acting upon the orders, we conducted the inquiry. We went through the CCTV footages and found that the doctor called her to prepare the discharge papers at around 1.30 am, and later on, he also went to her ward. At around 2 am, the woman and the doctor are seen sitting and chatting with each other for 40 minutes. The duo also had some tea/coffee together. Primarily, it depicts that they are known to each other. However, we had not found any incident of physical assault."
Dr Padalkar added, " The services of the Ayush doctor has been dismissed immediately, and a thorough inquiry will be made in the case. He was a contractual doctor. Meanwhile, the lady has been given discharged. However, I would like to clarify that all the CCCs in the city are safe. The women and men patients are admitted to separate wards. There is tight security, apart from the presence of women staff at each centre during day and night. The incident is indeed a shameful act. We had told the woman to register the police complaint if she wants, and the civic administration will extend all help to her."