Increased threat of violence against medical services and doctors
In November, there was a prominent oncologist at a government hospital in Chennai stabbing A cancer patient’s son has repeatedly accused his mother of giving him the wrong medicine
WHO data shows that 8-38 percent of physicians have experienced violence at least once during their medical career.
Not all such cases occur immediately after a medical error. A dentist in China was stabbed more than 30 times by a patient in 2016 after 25 years of treatment. The patient sought compensation for the discoloration of his teeth.
In Asia, China and India have the highest incidence of violence against doctors at 90 percent and 77.3 percent respectively. South Asia is the third least peaceful region, ahead of the Middle East, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. India and Bangladesh rank low on the Global Peace Index and doctors face high incidences of abuse.
Medical sabotage occurs even in countries with great economic prosperity and public safety records. A large number of primary care physicians in developed nations e.g Germany and Bulgaria Even the face Important events of violence.
Singapore ranks fifth Global Peace Index 2024. however, 70 percent of the hospital staff Cases of physical abuse are mostly experienced by older male patients.
Hostile accusations, unprovoked and spontaneous assaults, horrific injuries and murders are an ever-increasing sequence of violent activities that doctors face, with high probability. Injuries, varying degrees of psychological harm, and often death.
The most violent places are emergency and intensive care units (ICU) and the most violent time is visiting hours. Common causes of violence arising from this researcher’s field study are patient deaths, drug shortages, treatment delays, and inadequate attention.
Medical service communities and their experiences of abuse
During fieldwork in December, a staff nurse in Haryana’s Faridabad district shared that facing verbal abuse was a common occurrence for doctors, which they would try to minimize by communicating friendly facts with villagers.
A medical officer at a community health center in Faridabad district said he was attacked in the ICU of BK Hospital, a government hospital, in March 2023 by relatives of a patient who was taking time to recover. Allegation: Patient neglect.
A medical officer at another community health center recounted an incident in January 2024 when a villager screamed aggressively and threw a chippy in his face after the health center ran out of cough syrup:
“Apni parchi rak apne paas, jab dena hi nahi tha to parchi kyun banwai” (Keep your slip to yourself; if you don’t want to give us syrup, why did you ask us to make this slip).
The official said the cough syrup often runs out due to frequent and unnecessary demand.
A similar incident occurred in January 2023 with a shortage of tuberculosis drugs, when several patients were diagnosed with multi-drug resistant infections. Some angry patients vandalized the furniture of the community health center, threw faeces in front of the chief medical officer and shouted slogans in front of the patients.
An Assistant Nurse Midwife (ANM) from the same district revealed that doctors are often mistreated by patients during delivery and accused of negligence in care.
Another ANM said Rural women often do not reveal their pregnancy For the four months that caused them to miss the first one Ante Natal Checkups (ANC), which is the main cause of high risk pregnancies.
In the event that patients with very low hemoglobin levels and no ANC come for delivery at high risk, a female medical officer remarked, “It is common to see insulting comments from patients when they are upset, often in high-risk pregnancies. When patients do not want to go for referral due to lack of time and fear of the situation.
A health worker said vandalism has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. After his relative died due to not getting the required vaccination on time, the villagers tore down the gate of the community health center where he worked, broke the glass windows and broke the iron doors.
Despite the shortage of doctors, a substantial number of medical graduates choose not to enter the professional sector and prefer more attractive and secure jobs such as pharmaceutical alternatives such as consulting, digital health startups and wearable technology development, drug development, clinical trials and regulatory affairs. and non-clinical options such as policy making, hospital operations and strategic planning.
Loss of public trust
The underlying violence against doctors is mainly the result of public loss of trust in health workers the reason Systemic inefficiencies.
These trust issues manifest as ‘neglect’, resulting in retaliation and retaliatory attacks against staff in medical services, the sole providers of trust during health emergencies.
Violence against doctors will continue unless public trust in the health system is improved through behavioral change strategies – such as training doctors with the ability and skills to work effectively in culturally diverse environments – and their promotion through social media and local governance engagement. Advocating these behaviors.
The public health system has come a long way since 2015 The Bhor Committee was formed in 1946 To establish a health care framework through promoting equal access, preventive care, epidemic control, health education, and economic benefits to poor families.
However, lack of resources, inconsistent quality of care and limited focus on individualized treatment plans undermine public trust in medical care providers.
solutions
Lack of awareness about health policies related to violence prevention, non-reporting of violence by doctors, lack of consensus among authorities and bureaucratic delays in treatment have perpetuated it.
Violence against doctors through cyberbullying, a feature of our digitized lives, can be captured, corrected and resolved through better data and digital platform privacy standards.
A legal mechanism To prevent violence against doctors, with amendments existing Medical service legal provisions, creating a database of violence against the medical fraternity and providing a platform for greater accountability towards remedial actions.
Policy measures can be adequately linked to institutional structures through active grievance redressal cells to track, monitor and assess violent behaviour, provide institutional and psychological support to promote professional conduct in hospital premises and promote harmonious doctor-patient relationship policies.
As a part of Grievance Cell activity, mediation by appointed representatives during such attacks to provide a clear distinction of medical duties, to provide no systemic disruptions to the patient’s health condition and family can help address patients’ anger towards medical staff.
Indemnity insurance against bodily injury/death or legal cases due to error or negligence is essential for every doctor and hospital, whether public or private.
These policy measures can be charted out by health policy makers, along with reforming actions such as fines and corrective legal action for harm caused by violence.
Medical care professionals who maintain the edifice of the health care system deserve not only to be protected from violence but to be respected and valued for their service to society.
Dr. Vijayeta Sharma is Associate Professor of Public Policy at Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies. She was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Indian School of Business (ISB). Her research areas are maternal and child health, health policy and governance.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360 information™.