A Surat doctor was physically attacked and verbally abused by her next-door neighbour on Sunday. The neighbour threatened to kick her out of her house as he believed that the doctor had novel coronavirus and she would spread it to the entire building.
Violence against health workers not acceptable: WHO
The doctor, Dr Sanjivani, works at Surat Civil Hospital, where novel coronavirus patients are also treated.
Even though Dr Sanjivani herself is not deployed in the Covid-19 ward, her neighbours have deemed her a threat to society.
“The hostility started on March 23, when the novel coronavirus outbreak registered in everybody’s mind due to lockdown. “I was stopped at the main gate and told by neighbours that I am on their hit list because I go to the hospital every day. This is not done, they said, if this continues, we will take action against you,” Dr Sanjivani told India Today TV.
At the time, she had resolved the problem by tweeting PM Narendra Modi about it. Her local MLA intervened and the neighbours calmed down. But on April 4, she said, her next-door neighbours stopped her at stairs and accused her of being Covid-19 positive.
“He said that I have novel coronavirus and I will bring it inside the building. I did not give him a reply, which angered him. The video that has gone viral is of the next day evening,” Dr Sanjivani said.
“On Sunday, when I was about to leave my house to take out my dog, the man’s wife started falsely accusing me that my dog has attacked her, so I started making the video. That’s when the husband started hurling abuses at me, he told him what if you are doctor, I will kick you out of the building,” the doctor said.
The doctor said that she had tried to make her nieghbour understand that she just works in a hospital which also treats Covid-19 patients.
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