- Saturday, March 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
In a shocking incident, a 23-year-old woman doctor was stabbed to death at a hospital in the southern Indian state of Kerala early on Wednesday (10) by none other than a man who she was treating.
The accused is a school teacher who was brought to the hospital where the murder took place by the police after being involved in a fight with his family members.
The incident happened in Kottarakkara area of Kollam district in southern Kerala.
According to an officer of Kottarakkara police, the accused, identified as Sudeep, got provoked and attacked standing nearby with a pair of scissors and scalpel while the doctor, Vandana Das, was dressing an injury in his leg. Das was seriously injured in the attack and succumbed to her injuries a few hours later.
The police personnel who accompanied the man were also injured.
Das was rushed to a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital, but could not be saved.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan condoled the death of the doctor and said the incident was “shocking and extremely painful”.
He said a thorough investigation will be conducted in the matter.
“Assaulting health workers in the line of duty is unacceptable. A thorough investigation will be conducted into the incident. The government will take strong action against attacks on doctors and health workers,” Vijayan said in a statement.
Both the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA) doctors protested across the state against the incident.
The Kerala State Human Rights Commission, based on media reports of the incident, on its own initiated a case and sought a report within seven days from Kollam’s district police chief.
The incident kicked off a political row over state health minister Veena George’s statement before the media that the victim was a house surgeon and therefore, inexperienced and got scared when the attack occurred.
Criticising her statement, K Sudhakaran, chief of the state unit of the opposition Indian National Congress, questioned what the minister meant by the doctor being inexperienced.
“Does she mean the doctor was inexperienced to counter or defend against an attack by a man addicted to drugs and alcohol? The statement is a joke,” he told reporters.
Condoling the death of the doctor, Sudhakaran said it was sad and unfortunate that something like this happened.
Leader of opposition in the Assembly and senior Congress leader V D Satheesan said the doctor’s murder has shaken the entire Kerala society.
He contended that it was a dangerous situation that hospitals are not safe places and alleged that the doctor was killed due to “negligence of the police”.
State education minister V Sivankutty also condoled the death and said it was a shocking incident. He said the government will take all necessary steps under the law including departmental action against the accused, who is a school teacher.
The state government came under fire from the Congress and the BJP with both parties alleging that it has done little to ensure safety of healthcare workers at their workplaces.
Indian minister of state for external affairs and parliamentary affairs V Muraleedharan, who is from Kerala, while expressing shock and concern over the tragic incident, contended it was a shame that doctors and healthcare workers were not safe in Kerala.
Kerala is India’s only communist-ruled state.
(With PTI inputs)
