By Editorial |Updated: June 18, 2019 12:21:49 am
Search for cure
Clashes involving doctors and patients underscore the need for institutional initiatives to restore the relationship.
The doctor’s strike in Kolkata’s NRS Medical College that snowballed into a nationwide stir has flagged the faultlines in the doctor-patient relationship. More than three lakh physicians in several parts of the country struck work on Monday in response to a call by the Indian Medical Association (IMA); their counterparts in West Bengal called off a week-long strike late evening after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee agreed to their demands. The IMA has demanded a safe working environment and a “national law against violence in hospitals”. There can be no quarrel against this demand. However, it’s also a fact that 19 states, including West Bengal, have passed the Protection Of Medicare Service Persons And Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention Of Violence And Damage To Property) Act, which outlaws attacks against physicians. Offenders can be sentenced to jail term of up to three years and levied a fine of Rs 50,000. The failure of such remedies to curb violence against medical personnel points to deeper problems that dog the doctor-patient relationship in the country’s hospitals.
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