The Indian Medical Association (IMA), the country’s largest body of doctors, has condemned what it said were “disturbing” incidents of police trying to obstruct doctors from providing medical attention to victims of police violence during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

IMA office-bearers said they had received reports from association members that in certain areas that witnessed protests, the police had denied doctors access to detainees, entered hospitals and, at least in one instance, tried to barge into an intensive care unit.

“This is a new low in the civic life of the nation, but not entirely unexpected given the impunity with which violence is heaped on doctors and hospitals,” the IMA said in a statement on Sunday. “However, the difference this time is that it is the establishment which has lost its restraint.”

The statement signed by IMA president Shantanu Sen and secretary-general R.V. Asokan said the “government and its establishment have no right to deny anyone” access to medical care.

At least three doctors who had visited Daryaganj police station on Friday night after learning that the police had detained several victims of a baton-charge during a protest were initially denied access to the detainees.

“We reached the police station at about 9.30pm, but the police did not allow us to meet the detainees,” said Harjit Singh Bhatti, physician and national convener of the Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum.

“An officer even asked us: ‘Danga bhadkane walon ko kyun dekhna hai (Why do you want to examine rioters)?’” Bhatti said. “We had to wait until lawyers and a local Congress leader, Yasmin Kidwai, turned up and put pressure on the police. We were able to meet the detainees at about 10.30pm.”

Bhatti told The Telegraph that when he and another doctor entered the police station, they found eight minors among the detainees, some of whom had bruises and injuries.

“I gave an analgesic (painkiller) to one of the detainees, a man in his early 50s, who was in pain after suffering lathi blows,” Bhatti said.

The IMA statement also refers to a video circulated among doctors that shows police officers purportedly barging into a hospital in Mangalore, apparently on the trail of protesters.

The video shows several policemen walking along a hospital corridor, where one of them kicks a door several times before they all walk away. A post on Twitter claims the policemen were in Mangalore’s Highland Hospital looking for protesters but they “lathi-charged everyone, including attendees”.

This newspaper has not independently verified the allegation.

The IMA, which has a nationwide membership of around 350,000 doctors, said the visuals of a policeman violently opening an ICU door was a clear indication of the “new truth and the new standards”.

Sen and Asokan have said that hospitals should be treated as “safe zones”.

“All violence is unacceptable, especially those perpetrated by the state on people who require medical attention and care,” they said.

“Everyone should feel comfortable in the hands that heal. Indian doctors will never let down whoever requires care. No politics can dilute this resolve.”