Indian healthcare: a hypocrite?s oath

In the overcrowded wards and OPDs of Indian hospitals, courtesy and empathy is rare.

In the overcrowded wards and OPDs of Indian hospitals, courtesy and empathy is rare. An understanding that doctors are humans and not magicians and medical science fallible is also lacking. Patients everywhere in the world complain of negligence and neglect, understandable given their situation. But arguably only in India are doctors assaulted if patients fail to respond to treatment and die. In Mumbai itself, this is the sixth incident of relatives assaulting doctors in the last nine months. Only an incendiary build-up of emotions arising from such circumstances can explain the over-the-top response of Mumbai doctors to what was an incident that should not have occurred and whose perpetrators ought to have been punished.

HT Image

What is disturbing is the no-win situation that has emerged with doctors adopting a strident trade union-style approach, while the patients suffer. What little support there was for the striking doctors disappeared the moment demands such as stipend-increase were added to the reasons for striking work. This reeks of a callous, self-centric attitude, not expected of the medical fraternity.

While educating people about the limits of medical science and the frailty of the human body is a longer term project, there are things that could be done by governments and hospital managers to prevent such incidents. It is no secret that many government hospitals lack adequate capacity or facilities for the patients, leave alone the doctors. Building more hospitals and giving the doctors reasonable working conditions should not be that difficult, especially for a state like Maharashtra. This said, for the average man, the doctor is a wondrous person involved as he or she is in a profession that involves easing our pain and healing. Which is why there’s never been — and not likely to be — any empathy with the medical fraternity for walking out on their job. At the same time, reading the riot act, suspension and cancellation of registration are poor management tools to diffuse the situation.