From Gods To Monsters

Taking a look at some of the reasons behind the growing violence against doctors across the region, and the country.

- Dr Ayondyuti Bora

On a cursed Saturday afternoon, a septuagenarian doctor was mercilessly attacked by a group of people; people whom he had known and provided healthcare for more than forty years in Teok Tea Garden Hospital, Assam. These people had but one motive, to ‘punish’ Dr Deben Dutta, after he failed to save the life of their beloved. Dr Dutta, sadly, bled to death.

Attack on doctors is not new. However, this incident planted the seed for one thought amongst health professionals across the country, especially the doctor fraternity, ‘Did I sign up for a suicide mission?’

‘No physician, however conscientious or careful, can tell what day or hour he may not be the object of some undeserved attack, malicious accusation, black mail or suit for damages,’ a prophecy of some sorts, this statement was written over a century back in the Journal of American Medical Association, in 1892.

Indian Medical Association (IMA) reports that 75% of doctors in India have faced violence at some point in time. Doctors as compared to other professionals are four times more likely to be injured. This is because a doctor often deals with a person when he/she is in a stressful and emotionally taxing situation. Doctors often do not report all cases of violence, especially verbal abuse, as they understand the distressed condition of patients and their families.

But we still have to wonder, what has gone wrong? Why are doctors who were hailed as Gods about 30 years back are now being treated as monsters? There are a myriad of factors involved, of which a few important ones needs to be discussed.