The demonstration was staged in protest against the death of a patient of the hospital, due to the lack of oxygen supply on Saturday. “There were no doctors while the hospital super was on leave. The Deputy Super, Dr. Uttam Das Thakur was in charge and he is responsible for what has happened,” said Manoj Ray, who heads the Habra Local Committee of the Chattra Parishad.

Around 10 am, members of the Chattra Parishad brought a goat into the office of the hospital super, Dr. Nirmal Sana, who was on leave for the last one week. Placing a garland of cow dung around its neck, the members placed the goat on the super’s table, as a representation of the absentee doctor.

The Chattra Parishad had led a protest on Saturday also, demanding that all doctors should be back to work by Monday. “We gave them a day in between, but in spite of this when doctors did not turn up; we were forced to protest in a more severe manner.”

Ray said the cause of the protest was the unwillingness of the hospital authorities to talk or take any positive action. “We wanted a meeting with the Deputy Super with regard to this issue, but he did not seem too keen, forcing us to protest,” he said.

Also, it has been alleged that the furniture and equipments in the Super’s office were broken by the members. Ray however denied this allegation. He suspects that the equipments were broken by the coordination committee of the hospital, in order to blame the Chattra Parishad for the damage. “The hospital is important for us. Why would we want to break its equipments?” said Ray.

The police arrived at the spot, but no member of the Chattra Parishad has been arrested.

The Chattra Parishad plans to wait for another two days to see the response of the hospital authorities.