Indian doctors strike shows they are answerable to none
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The Kolkata doctors strike is more about hiding the carelessness of the medics. It is time Indian doctors behaved more responsibly.
Background of the Kolkata doctor strike
This week, another drama unfolded in yet another part of India. According to reports, a medical doctor was attacked by a group of people after one patient ‘died’ while undergoing treatment in a Kolkata hospital. The attackers charged the doctor on duty with negligence. It should be mentioned here that the ‘dead’ patient was an 80-year old man, Mohammad Shahid.
Initial reports suggested that the injured doctor had later died. Later, it emerged that Dr. Paribaha Mukherjee was fine and was responding to treatment. But by then, a serious confrontation was underway between the doctors and the Bengal government. Kolkata based doctors had started a strike throughout West Bengal.
Doctors strike work
Hearing that one of their fraternity had been attacked by the patient’s relatives, doctors in Bengal struck work and refused to attend to any of the patients in government hospitals. The Kolkata doctors strike was later supported by junior and senior doctors based in Delhi and the remaining parts of the country. Meanwhile, a newborn died in Bengal because of lack of medical attention
Mamata Banerjee did not take this strike lying down. She threatened the health workers with mass sackings if they did not rejoin duty. The Kolkata doctors, on the other hand, demanded that they should be given security against attackers. One senior medical professional based in Delhi appearing in a television debate even argued that all those who attack doctors and hospitals should be charged with sedition!
Watch this YouTube video on Kolkata doctors strike
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Vk-b-v28M
Sadly, an issue between a doctor and the relatives of a dead patient quickly assumed a political color.
Accountability anyone?
The doctors strike in Kolkata raises an important point which has been missed by the numerous armchair commentators and the media who are covering this doctors protest.
Why can’t doctors be held accountable for their often shoddy jobs?
Whenever you speak to any medical professional, you would get a standard reply; ‘We are here to serve and our profession can’t be equated with other jobs.’
Accountability is an alien word for doctors. This is sad but true. Most people in our society tend to think that our medical professionals are angels and to question them would amount to blasphemy. This attitude is more evident in the rural areas where our medical services are still scant after 70 years of independence.
In the urban areas though, patients and their relatives have started questioning doctors and their line of treatment. As medical information becomes more available to people ( thanks to WebMD and other internet sites), more and more people are beginning to question the expertise and skills of their doctors. Patients today are more informed and often question their doctors more intensely.
An insane loss
There is reason why our doctors are being questioned so aggressively.
According to a report published in Business India, approximately 5 million people die each year In Indian hospitals due to medical negligence. This astonishing fact focuses on two issues.
One- Are our doctors properly trained and educated in our medical colleges?
Second- what happens to those medical professionals whose negligence causes these 5 million deaths. Are they prosecuted? How many of them are jailed? Apparently, not many. And this brings us to yet another point.
In India, medical professionals ( allopathic doctors) band together to unimaginable levels. If you arrest one doctor, the entire medical fraternity comes together as if it were under attack. And this is what is happening in Kolkata right now. It’s not that I am not condemning Mamata Banerjee’s behavior; it is despicable indeed. And, I am also condemning the behavior of the relatives of the dead patient. But why aren’t we questioning the role of the doctor who was treating Mohammad Shahid? Why did the old man have to die?
Fixing the Issue
It is time that we as a society fixed some important issues concerning our healthcare sector.
One- We need to drastically bring down the 5 million deaths that happen each year in our hospitals. Remember, every death due to negligence is a national loss.
Two- Those doctors who neglect their duties must be punished as per law. As per my understanding, medical professionals come under the Consumer Protection Act but criminal punishment must also be given out to the offending doctors. On the other hand, genuine mistakes and errors must be overlooked.
Three- We need to improve our medical education drastically. As per a report of the Indian Medical Association, nearly 40 % of the Indian doctors don’t have the required skills and are often fake.
