Violent-acts against doctors and healthcare professionals in India: Call for action

Abstract

Doctors in India are facing violent-acts against them, and there is an increasing trend in recent years, leading to a Public Health Riot-like scenario in India. There are reports of a doctor being murdered, thrashed, beaten, injured, handicapped, harassed, threatened, and socially maligned with news of demeaning messages spreading such as wild-fire through social media and news channels. More alarming is that common people are justifying the acts of killing, beating, and provoking others to do more such acts, thereby triggering a vicious cycle. Most of them get away without any legal proceedings being instituted against them. A recent incidence of grievous injury to the junior doctor at NRS Medical College, Kolkata, drew National and International attention. More recently, a retired senior doctor volunteering part-time at a tea estate of Assam was killed by a mob. The authors call for action and earliest resolution of this issue with active involvement of all stakeholders.

Keywords

• healthcare violence
• mob lynching
• protection and safety of healthcare workers
• protection of medical establishments