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Affiliation
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Professor of Psychiatry, WBMES and Consultant Psychiatrist, AMRI Hospitals, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. |
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Abstract
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Violence against doctors is increasing and it has become a worldwide phenomenon as per the incidents which are being reported from almost every country. Violence can be either psychological such as abuse, threat, intimidation, or blatant physical assault! Recently, there have been incidents of serious physical assaults reported from states of West Bengal and Maharashtra.
A recent incident in West Bengal from Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College, Kolkata, has generated a lot of dissent and concern across India regarding the safety of doctors at work. On June 10, 2019, a 75-year-old person died and there was an altercation between family members of the patients and other relatives after which a mob of 200 people came in a truck and assaulted the resident doctors, in which two doctors were seriously injured and one of doctors skull was fractured and there was frontal contusion.[1] The three-dimensional image of the fractured skull became viral on social media and led to unprecedented protest by doctors across the country. Government hospitals were shut down and outpatient services were closed all over the country in a call given by the Indian Medical Association in demand for a central law for the protection of doctors at the workplace. Although there were wide public support and adequate coverage by the media, there was widespread debate about the precedence of service or safety. While general people and intellectuals argued that service should never be stopped, doctors maintained that optimal medical services could not be provided in the absence of safety and security.
While violence in the West is mainly resorted to by patients, in India, the situation is different as most of the incidents of violence are perpetrated by family members, neighbors, and political leaders.[2]
There are many reasons for this violence of which an important one is perceived wrong doing by the doctor for financial gain or avoiding duty. Overcrowding, long waiting periods, and a feeling that doctors are not paying adequate attention to their patients are some of the common causes of frustration leading to outbursts of the general public.[2],[3] People argue that humble behavior by doctors could solve the problem. This theme is often reported and quoted by media and political leaders. While this may be true to some extent, it does not account for the true picture. Many gentle and humble doctors have been assaulted! Our Editorial does not intend to delve deep into the factors influencing violence in society at large. However, there are few things which are socioculturally relevant for India ...
Language: en |