Nurses protested against the damage at the state-operated RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on Thursday morning, following an incident where unidentified individuals vandalised a section of the medical facility where a female doctor had been discovered deceased last week.
The act of vandalism occurred during overnight protests by women in various areas of the state in response to the alleged rape and murder of the doctor in the hospital's seminar hall.
The nurses at the hospital protested the vandalism and requested improved security on the premises.
"Such hooliganism inside a hospital is unacceptable," one of the protesting nurses said.
The police stated that around 40 individuals, pretending to be protesters, trespassed into the hospital grounds, damaged property, and hurled stones at the police officers present, leading the authorities to use tear gas shells to scatter the crowd.
The troublemakers, armed with sticks, bricks, and rods, vandalised the Emergency ward, its nursing station, and medicine store, as well as a section of the Out Patients Department (OPD) at the hospital in north Kolkata, according to the police. The vandals destroyed several CCTV cameras in and around the area and also plundered a stage where the junior doctors have been demonstrating since the evening of August 9, following the physician's death.
The incident involved an overturned police vehicle and damage to several parked two-wheelers, leading to injuries for some police officers.
After the incident, hospital staff began to clean up the damaged Emergency ward, which had resulted in the destruction of vital medical equipment and furniture.
"The goons entered the campus and beat up agitating doctors. This was an attempt to break our morale so that we back out from the protest. But such incidents have only strengthened our resolve to fight till the end," said one of the protesting doctors.
He alleged that the vandalism took place even as police personnel were present.
The police outpost in the hospital was also ransacked.
After visiting the area following the incident, Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal said, "We are looking into the matter." He also claimed that a "malicious media campaign" aggravated the situation.
"What the police have not done to crack this case? But there has been a malicious media campaign that has been going on," he said.
In the morning, a high-ranking police officer stated that they had dispatched extra staff to patrol outside the hospital. On August 9, a postgraduate trainee doctor was reportedly raped and brutally murdered while working at the hospital.
The following day, law enforcement detained a civic volunteer in connection with the crime.
On August 13, the Calcutta High Court mandated the immediate transfer of the investigation into the crime from the Kolkata Police to the CBI.
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