We had a period of relative calm, but this, apparently and disappointingly, has ended. The 'patients' relatives vs doctors and medical staff' bogey has reared its ugly head
We had a period of relative calm, but this, apparently and disappointingly, has ended. The 'patients' relatives vs doctors and medical staff' bogey has reared its ugly head. A recent report in this paper detailed how an X-ray technician was brutally assaulted and a doctor manhandled at a hospital in Govandi. Relatives of a patient were unhappy with the treatment and made a doctor and an X-ray technician their target.
A discussion between the two parties spiralled out of control, and soon, the doctor was manhandled. While security guards rushed to help, the technician was beaten with an iron rod while they walked outside the ward. Sometime ago, we had reported a spate of such clashes. There had been troubling incidents at first, but, when there were several with doctors being attacked, the Indian Medical Association and allied branches of medical colleges and associations had staged a protest at Azad Maidan.
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There was also a strike in some hospitals. Action was promised, and a game plan put in place. Security was going to be upped in all hospitals. Doctors had to approach relatives along with a guard. This incident, however, shows that the danger and possibility of such conflicts has not been obliterated altogether. We need stronger measures to protect doctors.
Hospitals may need to employ at least three professionals who can address relatives. Some way out needs to be found because we simply cannot allow these fights to erupt again or take the attitude that these clashes will always be part of the civic medical facilities landscape.
Use this assault as a springboard to go back to the drawing board and see how measures can be tightened at medical facilities. We want such disputes to be a thing of the past, a shameful recent history that authorities have learnt from and set right.
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