A senior resident physician at IGMC Shimla has been dismissed by the Himachal government following an internal investigation that found inappropriate behavior during a heated exchange with a patient in the pulmonary ward. The firing was done after a video started circulating showing the doctor hitting a man. The incident incited anger, led to demonstrations at the hospital, and the authorities responded quickly.
According to sources, Dr. Raghav Narula’s services were officially terminated by the Department of Health and Family Welfare and the termination took place immediately. The 31-year-old was working as a senior resident in the Pulmonary Medicine Department at the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Shimla.
The termination order was issued invoking Clause 9 of the Resident Doctor Policy 2025. He was to be on suspension as of Sunday evening until the internal investigation was over. The order came out 2 days after the occurrence signifying the authority’s stand on violence inside a public hospital.
Investigation shows that fault lies with both sides
A board that was created by the Director of Medical Education and Research to look into the incident came with its wavelength within 24 hours. The outcome of that report was that Dr. Narula and the patient Arjun Singh, 34, were at fault for the incident.
The words that the committee wrote down in its report were the following: misconduct, misbehavior, and acts of a public servant that are unbecoming. Besides, it said that the Resident Doctor Policy 2025 had been repeatedly breached. The policy will be in charge of the practice of professional conduct of residents in Himachal Pradesh.
The termination order, characterizing the behavior as misconduct, misbehavior, and acts unbecoming, was also found to be in breach of the semi-Dr. G. S. Bhakuni norms and was also barred in terms of the Resident Doctor Policy 2025 and also the decrees of the Hon’ble Court in the matter of SMAB.
The incident took place in the lung ward on Monday and was videotaped through a cellphone. A video that went viral shows Dr Narula hitting the patient, while Singh is nearly kicking the doctor. The video has led to a public uproar and demands for justice.
Consequent to the incident, FIR was filed by the patient’s family against the doctor. Police started a process of taking the statements of the hospital staff and the eyewitnesses. The law course will go on as the findings progress.
Arjun Singh, a professor from Shimla who had just been through a bronchoscopy, stated that the problem arose when the doctor called him ‘tu’ instead of ‘tum’. Due to being out of breath after the procedure, he voiced his objection to the doctor’s approach. He protested and flared up.
Narula contradicted that saying the patient had attacked him with offensive words and that the patient also instantly involved the family. He also said that the video shared worldwide captured only the partial truth and not the full sequence of events leading to the clash.
On Wednesday, a second video was released in which the doctor can be heard telling the patient, ‘You are just four years older than me.’ In the first video, another doctor is trying to secure the patient’s legs. The patient in his police complaint later named two doctors.
#UPDATE
IGMC SHIMLA DOCTOR CASE
The Himachal Pradesh government has terminated the services of Dr Raghav Narula.Meanwhile, a new video has surfaced showing the patient deliberately using obscene and abusive language. The doctor is repeatedly being called “badtameez”… pic.twitter.com/PJAA8CitJz
— Indian Doctor🇮🇳 (@Indian__doctor) December 24, 2025
Political and institutional response
The Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu asked for a detailed report and ordered that the inquiry should be completed in 24 hours. Health Minister Dhani Ram Shandil condemned the incident as unfortunate and said a fair result was being pursued from all aspects.
This incident caused protests at IGMC, with the police being deputed to control the situation. The Shimla Association of Medical and Dental College Teachers called for a fair inquiry and warned of a state-wide protest if the alleged leaders of the demonstrators were not identified.
The Resident Doctors Association of IGMC issued a statement in support of the physician, arguing that the patient had misbehaved and become verbally abusive upon asking for the medical records. They even strongly advised the authorities to check the actions of an enraged crowd that had supposedly been mounting an attack on doctors in the hospital.
2. Clean-Up and Detailing Room
The fascinating thing about these occurrences is that they involve the improper behaviour at the workplace, patient rights, and the protection of healthcare workers in a full government hospital setting. It also points out the fact of the large role played by viral videos in influencing the public’s perception and making quick decisions on the administrative level in such risky environments.
It is foreseen that the heads of the hospitals and the state legislators will modify the standards for the hospitals that will be communication, pacification, and security. The issues of doctor-patient relationships and the safety aspect, especially in high-pressure departs like pulmonary medicine, remain the major concerns.
At present, the removal of the IGMC doctor by the Himachal government makes a clear statement about professional behavior. The criminal liability will be established by the legal proceedings connected with the FIR, and at the same time, the institute is expected to live up to the expectations after a difficult time of the week.
