Last October, 30,000 doctors struck work demanding stricter laws governing attacks on their fraternity. Five months on, though then home minister Narayan Rane promised to do something, nothing has happened. Yet again, around 700 doctors went on a flash strike. The government is yet to pass an ordinance.
While the TV kept showing the hospital turning away patients because of Tuesday’s strike, the doctors were fuming: didn’t they have right to demand security? “We save others’ lives but do we have to risk ours?” asked a visibly agitated resident doctor.
The entire doctor community has extended their support to the strikers. “Attacks on doctors have become way too common. We need protection, but who cares?” said Dr Bipin Pandit, senior member of the Association of Medical Consultants.
Yet although striking is a legitimate form of protest in a democracy, the guiding principle of medicine is the alleviation of suffering.
But while the issue of doctors striking is contentious, they are human too and have a right to safe working conditions. Don’t you think?