In a span of 24 hours two doctors were attacked in two hospitals in Chennai, highlighting the lack of security for medical professionals. Dr Balaji Jegannathan, an oncologist at the Kalaignar Centenary Super Specialty Hospital, was stabbed seven times by the son of a woman who was being treated by the doctor for ovarian cancer. A few hours later, Dr P Hariharan, a psychiatrist at Stanley Medical College, was attacked by a patient. Both doctors are fortunately recovering from their injuries but they have been mentally traumatised. Attacks on doctors by distraught relatives of patients are common throughout the country. Though 26 states have laws against this phenomenon with non-bailable clauses, such attacks continue. The brutal rape and murder of a doctor at the RG Kar Medical Hospital in Kolkata that caused nationwide outrage is another example of how vulnerable medicos are in Indian hospitals. Safety measures are few and far between, especially at overcrowded government hospitals. Patients’ attendants often feel the overworked doctors are not paying adequate attention to their kin. Junior doctors bear the brunt of relatives’ anger when a patient’s medical outcome is not what they desire. These doctors face adverse circumstances such as the case of a young lady resident in Kerala who was stabbed to death with surgical scissors by a mentally unstable prisoner undergoing treatment.
It is not surprising, therefore, that medical professionals are now seeking a central law that will deal firmly with cases of doctors and nurses being attacked by patients’ kin. They are demanding CCTV cameras and a comprehensive security review at all hospitals so that medicos are safe from such unruly attacks. Apart from the physical damage, such attacks also cause a lot of mental trauma making it difficult for doctors to treat their patients with the dedication required because they are always looking over their shoulders to see if they are the target of patients’ ire. If India aims to provide better healthcare to the common people, one of the first things that must be fixed is the lack of protection for medical professionals. After all they are the backbone of the health system.
