Over 1,000 resident doctors at the Safdarjung Hospital here went on strike on Thursday after a patient assaulted a doctor, affecting emergency services. They withdrew the strike after the Health Ministry assured them extra security.

A delegation of Resident Doctors Association met Additional Secretary (Health) Sanjeeva Kumar, who promised that an additional 100 security guards would be deployed for doctors' safety at the sprawling government-run hospital in south Delhi.The strike began earlier in the day after the Wednesday evening assault by a woman patient on a resident doctor. Alleging she was not being properly treated, the patient first got into a row with the woman doctor and then assaulted her. The incident happened in the gynaecology ward.The Ministry also sought a proposal from the hospital to increase the number of junior and senior resident doctors to cope with the rising number of patients.