Chandigarh, August 27
Setting on fire and the subsequent razing of Singhania Hospital by Shiv Sainiks at Thane yesterday in protest against the death of Anand Dighe, a Sainik, is not an isolated incident but symbolises a growing public trend where agitated relatives and close friends of victims give vent to their anger against what they feel is “negligence, either on the part of the doctor or the hospital staff, leading to the death of their dear one”.
“The incidence of assault on doctors is on the increase,” admits Dr O.P.S. Kande, president of the Punjab unit of the Indian Medical Association, who last week wrote to the Director-General of Police, Punjab, seeking his intervention maintaining that the medical fraternity of the state was feeling suffocated as it was working under stress and “may fail to discharge its duties with a free mind required for good clinical judgment”.
“Against one incident in Dhuri in 1997, where a diabetic patient, who was in coma, died in a private clinic, the number of such cases has been rising during the past few years. In 1998, the number of such cases, where doctors and their clinics became targets of public fury, rose to three. In one case, a road accident victim, who had an elbow injury, died while he was being operated upon. This incident, which took place in Pathankot, saw both the surgeon and the anaesthetist being attacked and the hospital ransacked by an angry mob. The police registered a case under Section 304-A of the Indian Penal Code against both doctors,” says Dr Kande.
Last year, a government doctor was assaulted at Gidderbaha after he refused to oblige relatives of an accused in a medico-legal case. No action was taken against the culprits. In another case, a case of cheating was registered against a medico couple of Patiala on a charge that they had removed an ovary of the patient and sold it. The couple is still facing the case.
In yet another case reported last year, a gynaecologist of the Civil Hospital in Sangrur was charged under Section 304-A of the IPC (causing death by negligence).
“Last year, a senior doctor was manhandled by a politician in Hoshiarpur but the police did not intervene,” says Dr Kande.
This year, the number of such cases has almost doubled as compared to last year. The most recent case, says the Punjab unit of the IMA, was the death of a child at Adampur early this month after the patient aspirated on being given oral feed. The doctor and the hospital staff were beaten up by agitated relatives and friends of the bereaved family. A case under Section 304-A of the IPC was registered against the doctor.
The cases reported this year included one from a heart care centre of Jalandhar in March where relatives of the patient ransacked the hospital after his death. A case under Section
304-A of the IPC was registered against the doctor but no action was initiated against those who ransacked the hospital.
In yet another case reported from Jalandhar in May , a doctor was accused of removing the kidney of a patient where again a case was registered after the agitated relatives and friends of the patient ransacked the hospital. On the intervention of the IMA, a case of rioting was also registered against those who indulged in rowdyism.
In another case, says Dr Kande, a patient after being given the necessary medical aid at Budhlada, was referred to a bigger hospital in Ludhiana where he died four days later. But the Budhlada clinic became the target of an agitated mob and a case was registered against the doctor who had only stitched the wounds of the road accident victim before referring him to the Ludhiana hospital.
The Director-General of Police, Mr Sarabjit Singh, when contacted, said that he had not received any communication from the Punjab unit of the IMA. “Anyway, we hold the medical fraternity in high esteem. But when relatives and friends of a patient complain of negligence and there is prima facie some basis for their complaint, we do register cases against doctors or other medical staff members under Section 304-A of IPC (in the case of the death of the patient). But at the same time, the offence is bailable. “We will make sure that in no such case bail is denied to a doctor.”
Dr Kande, however, maintains that as in Delhi, the Punjab police should issue instructions to its district units to get constituted medical boards at the district level under the chairmanship of the civil surgeon which should examine the technicalities of the treatment given and cause of death of the patient while deciding whether it was a case of medical negligence or not.
“The relatives and friends of the patient can move the Consumer Court if they find the treatment is deficient, inadequate or improper,” he said.
The Punjab IMA also wants that the police should not allow those who attack doctors and ransack hospitals, clinics, private nursing homes and laboratories to go scot free. Even if a doctor has made a mistake, no one has the right to damage property and deny or disrupt the treatment being given to others on the same premises.
Dr Kande and other doctors admit that in the case of the sudden death or loss of a dear one, relatives and friends of the victim “get agitated the moment they realise that the patient could have been saved” and they make the doctor and the hospital their target.
The IMA also quotes a government circular which says that a charge of negligence is not attracted in the case of hospital death. And in the case of private clinics, if a charge is made against a doctor, the investigation should be handled by a person not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. Further, the investigating DSP should refer the case to the Superintendent of Police/Commissioner of Police, Principal Medical Officer or Principal of the medical college of the area concerned and shall conduct further investigation in the light of the decision of the panel.
The IMA also quoted a case from Delhi early this month where a case of death of negligence by doctors was referred to the medical board by the
police.
To be concluded
