The horrendous crime of rape and murder of a Post graduate doctor in RG Kar Hospital Kolkata on 9th August 2024 is still being investigated. A prime suspect- someone well familiar with the Hospital’s working has been arrested. Many senior officials of the Hospital are being questioned.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court took cognizance of the matter and passed an order on 20th Aug. 2024 which can be found here.
The Order flags many aspects of working of medical professionals which makes their work particularly stressful and risky. Also highlighted were the extremely stretched out medical ” infrastructure” available to these professionals. The consequences – bad patient outcomes- are almost inevitable. Maybe more so in Government Hospitals.
A more systematic study has been sought and a “National task Force” set up to come up with clear protocols and suggestions.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare also set up a form for any to give ” Suggestions to NTF on safety, working conditions and well-being of medical professionals and other cognate matters”.
To provide your inputs via this form, please click here.
Surprisingly, in all this, there has been no attempt to gather the voice of the most affected of stakeholders – the patients. Rather, patients have been identified as a potential cause of violence against medical professionals . Although in the specific case of RG Kar that is obviously not the case. And no data exists to show that violence by patients/ their family is the major contributor to all violence in medical facilities.
Patients are in fact the most vulnerable of the stakeholders in a medical facility. They are already sick/ injured. They are in an environment where they do not control anything, and can hardly even understand what is being done to them. Indeed, crimes may be being committed on their bodies without even their knowledge, when they lie unconscious in and ICU for example. Or with their feeble concurrence, under the guise of cure . Or lure of one. This not at all denies that there are cases of patients or their family, agitated as they already are, turning upon any they may perceive is not doing enough to help them. While the problem may be beyond the medical service provider’s abilities itself.
Ignoring the situation of the most vulnerable stakeholder is simply not being thorough. And may lead to solutions that worsen the problem, instead of alleviating it . A crime is a crime. Irrespective of by whom performed and on whom. There should not be any discrimination irrespective based upon sex and occupation of any. Safety and protections of patients ( and their family members) should also be likewise on the agenda of any sustainable medical protocol.
But there has been no systematic, independent, third party study of violence against doctors by patients or their next of kin. Likewise here has been none on violence done to the patients. Only such a data based analysis shall reveal where the gaps are. One may in fact find out that even existing legal provisions, strictly and evenly implemented, may provide more than ample safeguards for all who use medical services, and problem lies not in lack of laws but in effective implementation of existing ones. New laws should be considered only when it is clear that the existing ones are not enough.
Be that as it may, use the link provided by the Government, despite its shortcomings, to put forward your views and suggestions. You may also email them to us at contactlawpatients@gmail.com and we will also keep track of those.
Let us also leave you with a very recent incident of violence perpetrated upon a hapless patient. Please ponder upon how all such violence- whether upon medical staff or upon the helpless patients/ their family can be lessened.
