Violence against doctors at their workplace is not a new phenomenon to hear. However, in recent times, reports of doctors getting harassed by patients and their relatives are making headlines around the world and are shared extensively on social media.
This violence may comprise telephonic threats, intimidation, verbal abuse, physical but non-injurious assault, physical assault causing simple or grievous injury, murder, vandalism, and arson.
Medical professionals who suffered through violence have been known to develop psychological issues such as depression,post-traumatic stress, insomnia, fear, and anxiety, leading to absenteeism. Many have lost their clinics, injured themselves, lost lives, and also tarnished their reputation as a professional due to these incidents
Causes of violence could be because of several reasons, we’ve jotted down some common problems:
Policy factors: If we look at a policy level, India's health-care spending is close to 2% of the total budget, which is dismal when compared to other countries. The Indian government's share in the health-care delivery is around 20%. The most dominant role in the health-care delivery is provided by small hospitals having up to thirty beds, but here, due to poor insurance penetration, the patient has to spend money from his/her pocket to the point of catastrophic poverty. As a result of this, small medical establishments are particularly susceptible to violence and aggression at the time of billing which translates to long working hours and poor work environment for government doctors, which makes them susceptible to making mistakes and prone to violence.
Social factors: Traditionally in India, medical professionals have been treated with respect by society. However, the present impression of the profit-making of few in the profession has crippled the image of the doctors. With the advent of modern medicine, the cost of health care has increased globally, but due to low literacy rates in India, there is an unrealistic expectation that paying more money should save one's life.
Professional factors: As part of the medical curriculum, all doctors are taught clinical behavior but not all are taught empathy. Whereas in clinical practice, effective patient-doctor communication involving receiving an explanation for the occurrence of the symptom/sign, likely duration of treatment, the lack of unmet expectations, and empathy are associated with overall patient satisfaction with the services. Many a time, the patient does not comprehend the gravity of the situation and expects a better chance of complete recovery due to improper explanation by the treating doctor. In a country like India, due to the scarcity of doctors and health-care facilities, these issues are seldom given importance, which makes this one of the important causes of rising violence against health-care practitioners in the country.
Prevention of this violence is the sheer responsibility of the Government, Media, and Medical institutions.
The one who is considered as a god is being treated as a culprit.
Who stands where decides the justice but where is our stand decides humanity!