KATHMANDU, Sept 19: Dr Lok Bahadur Tandon, Chair of Green City Hospital, had been working since the morning to treat young protesters injured in the Gen-Z movement. His hospital opened its doors free of charge to those carried in with bullet wounds, bruises and broken bones. But on the afternoon of September 8, while he was still trying to save lives, Dr Tandon himself became a victim of the very unrest he was helping to heal.
Dr Tandon was personally involved in overseeing the operation of the hospital since the morning of September 8, when the Gen-Z protests began. He rushed from one emergency case to another, coordinating care for the injured and even personally escorting critical patients to other hospitals for further treatment. It was during one of these missions — after taking protester Laxman Kandel, who was shot during demonstrations in Gongabu, to Manmohan Hospital — that his ordeal began.
Mistaken for former Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel, Tandon was dragged out of his vehicle and beaten by a mob as he returned from Manmohan Hospital. Only minutes earlier, he had been tending to those wounded on the protest frontlines.
“The crowd didn’t even recognize who I was. Someone shouted that a leader had arrived, and they started hitting me,” Tandon recalled, still nursing injuries. “I was rescuing the injured, but instead I was attacked. Later, a few Gen-Z youths and others who knew me stepped in and pulled me out.”
The incident, captured on video and widely shared online, was initially misreported as an attack on Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Paudel. In truth, it was Tandon — the doctor who had been quietly treating protest victims free of charge — who bore the blows.
Despite the trauma and the damage to his ambulance, Tandon does not believe the attack was deliberate. Still, he admits it has left him shaken. “Violence spares no one,” he said. “When anger blinds people, even those trying to help can become targets.”
So far, 17 protesters injured in the movement have received treatment at Green City Hospital without a single bill being issued. After resting for a few days, Tandon has returned to his post, continuing his work even as the memory of that night lingers.
For him, the decision is simple: “My duty is to heal. No matter what happened, that doesn’t change.”