The medical community’s stir at Shivaji Park on Sunday MUMBAI: In the last 18 months, there have been at least 12 incidents of violence against resident doctors in Maharashtra 's public medical schools. A patient's father in March tried to choke a resident doctor in Pimpri after she suggested that his daughter undergo a CT scan. An angry sister on Sunday morning threw a bloodied gauze from her brother's wound at a resident doctor's face and scratched her arm at Sion hospital.
"Resident doctors are the first point of contact for most patients in public hospitals , which are overcrowded and have poor infrastructure. A frustrated patient and his/her relatives then lash out at the resident doctor," said medico-legal expert Dr Lalit Kapoor from Association of Medical Consultants . The ongoing strike to express solidarity for the raped and murdered doctor from RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata has, hence, sought to focus on the inadequate security arrangements and non-functional CCTVs in the state's medical colleges.
A representative of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors recalled how during the pandemic, female resident doctors from one of the public hospitals were harassed by a food delivery agent. "He would follow them from the hospital to the hostel and, as there was no security guard at the gate, he would enter the hostel building and ring the doorbells," said the doctor. An Indian Medical Association study has said that 75% of the doctors across the country have faced some form of violence at some time in their life; most of the time, it is verbal.
"Young doctors are often perceived as rude by many patients. Moreover, society no longer reveres doctors like it did previously," said a senior doctor. While the state govt has promised to increase security guards outside female doctors' hostels, casualty and ICUs, doctors say the promises are often forgotten.
State-run JJ hospital has decided to double the number of security guards and CCTV cameras at its 48-acre campus in Byculla, but the govt tendering process will take time. Dr Kapoor said while introducing a new Act protecting doctors would take time, an alternative could be recognising postgraduate students as govt servants under Section 21 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. "There is a stringent law against obstructing the duty of a govt servant.
If resident doctors are recognised as public servants by a resolution at the state level, the violence could be brought under check.".
