The nursing staff of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) on Saturday staged a protest at the hospital demanding proper security for them.

The nurses were protesting after patients’ attendants assaulted two of their colleagues during night duty on Friday. On Saturday morning, the nurses threatened to withdraw services from various hospital departments in protest but stopped protesting after the hospital administration held talks with them.

Bithika Biswas, a senior PMCH nurse, who was leading the agitated nurses during Saturday’s protest, said the two nurses who were beaten up received serious injuries.

“The attendants twisted the hands and neck of one of the two nurses. She is in excruciating pain. Both nurses have been given two days’ leave as they need rest,” Biswas said. “Hospital doctors checked on them and gave them painkillers. Various episodes have occurred at PMCH which show that those working over here are at god’s mercy. In the case of doctors, security personnel do react and take measures but when it comes to shielding nurses, the security personnel and police stay mum. We want necessary action to be taken against security people who didn’t respond during Friday’s incident. Are they not supposed to protect nurses too ?”

Sources said the agitating nurses were told by the hospital administration not to continue their protest and rather wait for hospital superintendent Dr Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, who is set to join office on Tuesday. “The superintendent is on official tour. We are supposed to meet him on this issue when he joins office on Tuesday,” Biswas said.

A senior doctor of PMCH, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the hospital lacked proper security arrangements for doctors and other staff despite repeated attacks on them by patient’s attendants.

“The hospital administration has time and again said it would implement the pass system in the hospital but it has failed to implement it properly. We can find more than one attendant of the patient in each hospital ward and this poses a risk to us.

“Also, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras do not cover the whole hospital area. In case any doctor or staff is beaten up, there is no guarantee there will be sufficient records available with the hospital administration to nab the culprit,” he said.