Doctors and patients deserve better

Violence against doctors is a symptom and not the disease. Structural and policy changes in India’s hospitals, and not increased security, may help in controlling it

Sanjay Nagral
June 19, 2019, The Hindu

Yet another chapter in the sickening saga of violence against doctors in India is coming to an end. It mostly ran a predictable course: junior doctors in a state-run hospital in Kolkata were attacked by the angry relatives of a patient who died there, junior doctors across West Bengal went on strike, outraged senior doctors paid lip service to their cause, medical associations went on a token strike, and there were calls for stricter laws and for increasing security for doctors. It was the usual narrative involving lumpen mobs, allegations of political instigation, unrealistic expectations from patients, overworked doctors, and calls for increased security, which included bizarre demands for bodyguards and even bouncers. Perhaps the only novelty was the rather knee-jerk and insensitive response by a Chief Minister suffering from a poll hangover, which seems to have acted as further provocation.

Will punitive action, new laws or increased security change this scenario? Will we never see an incident like this if such measures are taken? As someone who participated in a strike by junior doctors as long back as 1985 in response to an assault by a corporator in Mumbai and continues to witness such events in the public hospital where I work, I can only dismiss these as rhetorical questions. But is there something beyond this customary discourse that springs from the debris of such a fracas that we should recognise? In medical parlance, is there a disease that is producing these symptoms in recurring fashion? These are questions worth examining.

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