KALYAN: The Vishnu Nagar police have arrested three persons in connection with the assault on doctors and hospital staff at Shastri Nagar Hospital in Dombivli, while Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre, who has also been named in the FIR, is yet to be arrested.According to the police, the three arrested are supporters of Mhatre and are accused of assaulting a doctor and nursing staff following a dispute over the treatment of a patient at the civic hospital.Based on the complaint filed by doctor Vaibhav Salunkhe, the police had earlier registered a case against four men, including Mhatre, and a woman under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Maharashtra Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage or Loss to Property) Act, 2010.Earlier on Wednesday, Mhatre denied allegations that he had assaulted the woman doctor. He claimed that he had merely tried to snatch her mobile phone as she continued speaking on it while he was seeking information about the patient’s condition.“The lady doctor is like my daughter. It is not part of Shiv Sena’s values to raise a hand against a woman,” Mhatre said, rejecting the allegations against him.Meanwhile, doctors across Kalyan-Dombivli intensified their protest against the assault.Following a call by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), routine outpatient and non-emergency healthcare services remained suspended at civic hospitals, including Shastri Nagar, Rukminibai, Harkishan Das Hospital, Shaktidham Hospital and Vasant Valley Maternity Hospital, as well as several private hospitals. However, emergency and critical care services continued to function.Doctors demanded the immediate arrest of all those named in the case, including Mhatre, and sought strict action under the Maharashtra Medicare Act.They said attacks on healthcare workers were becoming increasingly frequent and warned that unless strong action was taken, such incidents would continue to undermine the safety of medical professionals while on duty.In the state assembly Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray criticises the assault on doctors in Kalyan. Demands that the Corporator be removed from his post
