Assaults on doctors have become a very common headlines in the past few years. The latest victim for the same is Dr. Rohit Kumar, a resident at Sion Hospital.
Doctors were once considered to be next to God! Changing trends have changed the statement also I guess. Taking on the recent case of Dr. Rohit, who was treating his patient who suffering from chronic kidney disease, could not save her life. After he reported the death news to the family, an eye witness reports that he was attacked by 15 people, holding him responsible for her death.
Thousands of doctors have gone for strike against the violence taking place against doctors. Doctors are demanding that the government improves the quality of security at hospitals by increasing the numbers of guards and restricting the number of relatives allowed to visit a patient in the ward.
If doctors file a case against the assaulter, the cases keep piling up in the court of law, doctors resume to duty and then again they are assaulted by someone else. It is high time that doctor’s protection act, be taken seriously and followed. This act states that “Any attack against a duty bound doctor, a hospital or its staff would invite an imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of Rs 50,000.In addition to the punishment, the offender will be liable to pay to the healthcare service institution a compensation of twice the amount of the purchase price of medical equipment damaged and loss caused to the property as determined by the court trying the offender. If a person fails to pay the compensation then the government could go for a revenue recovery against the assaulter. The major highlight of the act is that “any offence committed under the section shall be cognizable and non-bailable.”
How can you expect us to perform our duty when we are not safe at our own work place? where we fear any moment attacks from the public? The Indian government spends 1.15% of its GDP on public healthcare, among the lowest in the world. We are working under government run hospitals which are severely under-resourced and struggle to meet demands. When we inform the relatives of the absence of certain facilities, we are at the receiving end of their anger. We become scapegoats in this situation. It is an attack on the profession itself. As per WHO guidelines there must be at least 1 doctor for 1000 patients, but the condition here in India is worse, 1 doctor per 1700 patients. Despite these pathetic conditions we are giving the best of our service.