Bengaluru: The doctors withdrew their protest after the arrest of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike activists, on Friday, November 8.
The Indian Medical Association had called for a 24 hr bundh, starting on Friday morning. However, with the Vedike activists surrendering before the police, stating that they would not want the patients to pay a price in the entire episode, the doctors withdrew the protest and returned to work.
It may be recalled that the Vedike activists had entered the Ophthalmology department of Minto Hospital recently and gheraoed a doctor. An incident of a patient losing an eye in eye surgery at the hospital had irked the activists. The video clip of the activists taking the female doctor to task had gone viral. Soon the medical fraternity came together in solidarity, seeking protection to the doctors.
On Friday morning, Vedike Women’s Wing President Ashwini Gowda and 13 others surrendered before the VV Puram police.
Vedike State President Narayana Gowda has said that the activists are surrendering because they do not want poor patients to suffer. “We have been fighting for the cause of the people and now it is for the same reason that we will surrender before the police,” he said adding that the Vedike has not taken this decision fearing the medical fraternity, but the decision was taken on humanitarian grounds.