Violence Against Doctors

Needs serious examination.

- Dr Amrinder Bajaj

The viscous attacks on doctors have compelled me write in the interests of my fraternity, the much maligned medical fraternity. We are distressed by the treatment meted out by the very people we treat in good faith. The murderous assault on resident doctors by irate relatives of an elderly patient who died in NRS Medical College, Kolkata, has raised our hackles. To compound matters, the local government has given the incident a politico-religious turn and accused the doctors of refusing to treat patients of a particular community!

Fear was never a part of the doctor’s mental make-up. As a result of repeated incidences of violence over the years, it has become ingrained in our psyche. How are we expected to dispassionately treat a potential litigant/murderer who sits in front of us in the guise of a patient? How can we function rationally and make the right decisions when a pistol is placed on our temples both literally and figuratively? It is not only our clinical acumen but our very lives that we put on stake when we practise medicine. Why would anyone in their right senses want to become a doctor in the present scenario? Rather become a soldier and incur wounds in battles with the enemy instead of being injured or killed by the very people we take care of.