Month: September 2010

Cross-posted on Bong Buzz

It is a matter of great shame that in the recent few weeks there has been several attacks on doctors on duty in government hospitals all over the state. In most of these cases, the junior doctors had to bear the brunt of mob fury save for a few instances where the most senior and respected professors too were not unscathed.

I am apalled, to say the least, at the irresponsibility of the media! They are ever ready to cook up sensational stories of negligence and always blaming the doctors for whatever goes wrong in the government hospitals. Is it because doctors are easy targets? The tone of the media suggests that it is alright to beat up doctors, as if it is hardly an issue! As if they need to be reminded that it is never a solution and that law exists in the country. There’s no mention of the complete police inaction, hardly it goes in print that the perpetrators of crime are never brought to book (or even if the police does arrest someone, they never frame a strong case). Lack of police action after the crime has only encouraged this dangerous trend. The police inaction can often be attributed to political pressure from local leaders to protect their supporters.

Largely owing to this permissive attitude of the political system, police inaction and a media selling sensational stories, abusing doctors seems to have become a trend and it has assumed dangerous proportions! This is getting chronic! Outsiders are getting inside the hospital premises, abusing doctors with the filthiest of languages, assaulting them & damaging government property.

There has been so many incidents of mob fury in hospitals in the recent weeks that one can easily lose count. Last Saturday, the doctor on duty and an attendant were severely beaten up at SSKM after a motorcyclist with a critical head injury succumbed to death. Only yesterday another episode of mob fury unfolded at CNMC. Some relatives of a woman stormed into the labour room to inquire about the gender of the baby. As the doctor on duty was busy with other patients, he asked the relatives to wait who lost patience and manhandled the doctor! They also tried to ransack the labour room. Few weeks ago, in NBMC one of our beloved professors was beaten up by hooligans, supposedly the relatives of an expired newborn. One of the clinicians we always look up to, Sir was left with a haematoma under his right eye!

I am about to become an intern (junior doctor) in a few months and I can only wonder. Ruffians beating up doctors in hospital premises and yet no police action! Which century are we living in? What country is this? Unless there is this minimum security to ward off outsiders, how can doctors work in govt hospitals?

Please also listen to this podcast on Bong Buzz: Save our Doctors.

Cross-posted on Bong Buzz

I don’t know about the other states but as far as WB is concerned, the very practice of ransacking hospitals and assaulting doctors only reflects the how sad the state of affairs are in this state! Thanks to three decades of Commie rule that have championed mediocrity in all spheres of the society!

Only recently in North Bengal Medical College, a newborn with umbilical sepsis and consequent septicaemia was admitted in the hospital. The baby died and all hell broke loose. Hooligans came armed and at night they assaulted one of our very favourite professors who is a clinician par excellence, surely one of our idols, a great teacher and a dedicated doctor! While I empathise with the grieving relatives, there is no point in beating up doctors regardless of whoever is at fault. That is no solution and totally barbaric! Shall I say that the general masses are too primitive? Even more painful was to read the newspapers the following day! The media totally downplayed the assault story and brewed up a sensational story of negligence and we got to read what was only the half-truth.

Last year, there was another death of a baby despite best efforts and a mob of 200 people who entered our college campus in trucks carried out a mayhem in the Paediatrics department destroying whatever fell in their way. They also managed to ransack the ObGyn department which fell on the way. In Paediatrics they badly beat up housestaff doctors 2 of whom were ladies.

If there has been any negligence it is due to a total administrative failure! I mean why blame doctors if rats are eating up babies in the nursery! If the technicians at Pathology and Biochemistry refuse to take up test samples beyond a few hours of the day stipulated by their wish how can the doctors back up the diagnosis of so many patients in a govt hospital like ours!

When a doctor is assaulted and prevented from doing his duty, this automatically sends several other patients admitted under him at peril in govt hospitals which are understaffed anyway!