They are protesting against Sunday’s incident of a mob damaging hospital property over the death of a patient. The incident had occurred at Shri Krishna Charitable Hospital in Model Town.

Doctors said in the absence of a medical board inquiry, registering a case under section 304 of IPC against a doctor of the hospital was illegal.

Some said police had illegally detained Dr Deepak Rajput, the doctor against whom a case had been registered at Model Town Police Station.

Around 30 doctors from various city hospitals and clinics gathered at a nursing home in Model Town on Monday to discuss the increasing incidents of violence against doctors.

Ludhiana Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association has said that the OPDs will remain shut from 9 am to 2 pm on Tuesday.

“We are here to save lives. So why are we treated like murderers in case a patient dies? We know that we are accountable if anything goes wrong but even in that event, things should follow the course of law,” said Dr Narinder Verma of the IMA.

Doctors said according to a Supreme Court ruling, a doctor cannot be implicated in a case pertaining to a patient unless the medical board verifies negligence on the part of the doctor.

In a similar case on September 18 last year, angry relatives of a 24-year-old youth, who had died due at Aggarwal Nursing Home in Jamalpur, had staged a protest against the doctor.

A case had been registered against the doctor.