New Delhi, Sep 7 (IANS) About 1,200 resident doctors of the Safdarjung Hospital here Tuesday struck work demanding security for the medical staff after some of them were manhandled inside the hospital premises.

Some woman doctors and nurses were roughed up following the death of a pregnant woman in the morning. The patient was admitted to the hospital Monday night.

'We are on strike since 9.30 a.m. today (Tuesday) and this will continue till our demands for security are met,' Safdarjung Hospital Residents Doctors Association president Chandra Bhan told IANS.

'This is not the first time that an incident like this has happened with a doctor inside the hospital premises. The patient was three months pregnant and had dengue. The doctors gave proper medication. There was no fault in the services provided by the doctors,' he said.

Bhan said doctors here were often manhandled by the relatives of the patients and nothing was being done to ensure their security.

'When we spoke to the medical superintendent of the hospital he said that a tender for security has been floated, but it will take almost two months to finalise,' Bhan said.