It escalated as the government in that State remained passive, leading to junior doctors resorting to a strike and resignations of government doctors in that State. On Monday, doctors across the country, in solidarity with their colleagues in West Bengal, joined the protest either by striking for a few hours or by wearing black bands. The week-long strike in West Bengal was finally called off, after a meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who promised increased security measures to the medical fraternity in her State.
The strike exposes the lack of security for doctors in the country, who are at the mercy of the patients or their relatives. The delay in acting against the accused showed the West Bengal government in poor light as it allowed the protest by the doctors to escalate, and actually attempted to blame the doctors for going on strike. There was need for the Centre to ask the West Bengal State government to relent and for doctors in the entire country to join the strike before the Mamata Banerjee government came to the table for a meeting with the doctors and came to an understanding. The doctors go back to work in West Bengal, and across the country, but what about their security?
While this incident occurred on the East Coast, here too in Goa there have been incidents in the past of doctors being assaulted by patients or their relatives. As pointed out by the protesting doctors in Goa, in one such incident in the State that occurred a few years ago, the patient’s relatives were booked and even a look-out notice was issued as some had left the country. But that doesn’t resolve the question of security for the doctors and all medical service workers, who are now demanding that security personnel be posted outside all casualty departments in government-run institutions and that private hospitals should also take care of their doctors.
According to the memorandum presented to the Chief Minister by the doctors in Goa, there is an increase in incidents of violence against doctors and this will adversely affect public health at large. They have pointed out that this could lead to doctors and hospitals turning reluctant to take up complicated and risky patients, which will result in the people being affected. As long as there exists a threat of violence, health care workers will be unwilling to treat patients whose lives are endangered, is their reasoning. As the doctors have said, sound judgement regarding patient care will be compromised in such situations.
This does call for a comprehensive central law that will take up the issue of violence against doctors and healthcare staff, and enact law that will provide for mandatory security measures for doctors. But a very valid question is whether security personnel will help to end the incidents of violence, as these are never planned but are spontaneous. In the case in West Bengal, it was a junior doctor who was assaulted. Would it have been the same had the doctor been a senior? When you look at it this way, there are various other solutions that can be attempted.
Since medicine also requires that the doctor communicates with the patient and the relatives, it may be advisable to train doctors in communication skills, and have senior doctors deal with relatives. There have also been suggestions that social workers be posted in wards who would be better equipped in dealing with relatives, giving doctors more time to devote to their task of saving lives. This can be followed in large government hospitals, and it could be attempted for a start.
