I am being given psychiatric drugs unnecessarily, alleges Vizag doctor

He urges hospital Superintendent to shift him to a better medical centre; mother alleges political persecution

The suspended doctor from Narsipatnam Area Hospital, K. Sudhakar, who is undergoing treatment at the Government Hospital for Mental Care here after being booked in a public nuisance case, on Wednesday wrote a letter to the hospital Superintendent requesting that he be shifted to a better medical centre.

In the letter, Dr. Sudhakar alleged that he was being administered psychiatric drugs despite being normal, and that they were leading to reactions on his body.

“The drugs may turn me into a psycho,” Dr. Sudhakar feared, and said that the hospital was very unpleasant and the atmosphere disturbing.

Threat to life feared

Meanwhile, Dr. Sudhakar’s family members feared a threat to his life, and demanded that the government shift him to a private hospital for better treatment.

The doctor’s mother, Kaveri Bai, alleged that her son was a victim of political persecution as he had pointed out the “government’s failure to provide N95 masks to the doctors on COVID-19 duty” and visited TDP leader Ayyanna Patrudu’s house at Narsipatnam.

“The YSRCP government is framing a 20-year-old experienced anaesthetist as an alcoholic and mentally unstable man,” she alleged.

“My son was taken to King George Hospital (KGH) from the IV Town Police Station and declared that he was mentally unstable within 30 minutes,” she alleged, and questioned how could doctors declare him so without observing him for 48 hours.

She further demanded the suspension and arrest of the police personnel who had allegedly manhandled her son.

‘Ulterior motive’

“The doctors are not disclosing the names of medicines being administered to my brother. It is evident that the government is trying to make him mentally unstable, and then produce him in the court,” said Vijay Kumar, a family member.

Dr. Sudhakar was booked under various sections for allegedly creating public nuisance on the national highway. Later, videos showing policemen tying his hands to his back, beating and pushing him into a waiting auto-rickshaw went viral. In April, he was suspended for alleging that N95 masks were not being given to the doctors on COVID-19 duty.

After his arrest, Commissioner of Police Rajeev Kumar Meena told the media that the police had to tie Dr. Sudhakar’s hands to his back as he was drunk, used derogatory language, created nuisance in full public glare and was uncontrollable. Mr. Meena later suspended the police constable who was seen beating the doctor in the video.

Meanwhile, TDP leader V. Anitha, who filed a PIL in the High Court, criticised the way the government was treating a Dalit doctor. She said if the government failed to provide proper treatment to Dr. Sudhakar by Thursday, the TDP would take up a sustained agitation from Friday.

Based on her PIL and a couple of them filed by others, the High Court had asked the CBI to probe the case.