NEW DELHI: As violence against healthcare workers, especially doctors is seeing a spike in the country, President Droupadi Murmu on Monday said attendants of patients misbehaving with healthcare professionals is “wrong” and “condemnable.”“Many a time, when something untoward happens, in a fit of rage the attendants of patients misbehave with the healthcare professionals. This is wrong and condemnable,” she said in her address at the 10th convocation of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences, (ABVIMS)-RML Hospital. She said doctors make every possible effort to save the life of patients and this was shown during the Covid times.Despite all efforts if any unfortunate incident happens, then the doctors or the hospital staff should not be misbehaved with, she said, adding that, “No doctor wants to harm a patient but many a time all solutions are not available in science.”Referring to the non-fiction autobiographical book ‘When Breath Becomes Air’ written by American neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi, the president said there are so many anecdotes in the book which exhibit the limitations of medical science. Doctors who see life and death from close quarters understand such limitations and on several occasions they have to take decisions which are tough, she added.“Doctors work in an environment of pressure and stress, and sometimes they may seem restless but that does not mean they are not serious about their patient,” the president said.The president’s remark has come at a time when various doctors associations, including the Indian Medical Association (IMA), has been demanding the need for a separate legislation – Central Protection Act (CPA) – for prohibiting violence against doctors and healthcare professionals. Various resident doctors association last month went on an indefinite strike call to protest the brutal rape and death of a 31-year-old trainee woman doctor on duty in a state-run government hospital in Kolkata on August 9. The resident doctors resumed work only after Supreme Court intervention.Highlighting the work of doctors during the pandemic, Murmu said during the Covid pandemic times, it was visible that how doctors and healthcare workers, without caring for their own lives, served and treated people unconditionally.
Source link
