In the event that its nationwide protests fail to compel the government to enact laws to protect doctors, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) is preparing to secure gun licences for doctors in the state.
“There is certain scepticism that the government will not implement the Central Act which is one of our demands and during a meeting held by the IMA on Sunday, it was decided that doctors in Karnataka will be told to apply for gun licences for self-defence from July,” said Dr Ravi Ranganath, chairman of the IMA’s anti-harassment cell in the state.
Dr Ranganath said his cell receives anywhere from five to 10 complaints by doctors alleging harassment or threats of violence from patients or their families every day.
“For each of these doctors, we believe that there are three to five other doctors who are not complaining because they are reluctant to file FIRs with the police, which could result in a media report and affect their reputations,” he said, adding, “A doctor’s reputation is everything.”
A 2017 study by IMA found that 75% of doctors faced violence at work. According to Dr Ranganath, there have been 200 recorded instances of bodily harm being done to medical professionals in India, although Karnataka itself has been spared this sort of physical violence.
Dr Annadani Meti, president of the Karnataka branch of the IMA, blamed government apathy for the public’s growing mistrust of doctors and the medical profession.
“The government’s low funding of healthcare and the fact that it is not appointing enough doctors to rural areas or building the necessary medical infrastructure is creating a void in healthcare, especially in villages,” Meti said.
In the 2019 budget, the government’s allocations for healthcare amounted to Rs 61,398 crore, a 16% increase from 2018-19, which was Rs 52,800 crore.
Meti said the protests would continue if the government did not respond to the IMA’s demands. Doctors would also wear black aprons to continue a silent protest, he said.
Members of the Indian Medical Association, Dr Meti, Dr Ranganath and Dr Sanjiv Lewin of St John's Hospital said five reasons were responsible for "the deterioration of the doctor-patient relationship and the rise in violence".
They cited slanted media reporting which "distorts cases of negligence," ill-conceived government policies that "favour privatised healthcare over public care," the corporatisation of healthcare "which boosts hospital costs in an effort to generate profit even though doctors only get 1% of the final bill," a lack of proper law enforcement and unduly high expectations of healthcare by patients.
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