Hospitals must not function as an extension of law enforcement: Safdarjung Hospital resident doctors
Resident doctors at Safdarjung Hospital have petitioned the President of India to protest the conversion of hospital facilities into detention centers for activists. They argue that such actions compromise medical ethics, patient autonomy, and the hospital's ability to function as a neutral healing institution.
Why it matters
It highlights the tension between state security measures and the professional independence of healthcare institutions in democratic societies.
Expressing concern about the continued hospitalisation of activist Sonam Wangchuk, who is on an indefinite protest fast, a group of resident doctors at the government-run Safdarjung Hospital appealed for the President’s intervention in the case on Tuesday (July 21, 2026).
“Hospitals are institutions of healing and must not be perceived as places of detention except where such restriction is expressly authorised by law and carried out in accordance with due process,’’ the Resident Doctors’ Association, VMMC & Safdarjung Hospital, said in a letter addressed to the President of India Droupadi Murmu.
The group said that there cannot be any compromise regarding patient autonomy, medical ethics, institutional independence, and the functioning of public healthcare institutions.
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