- Patient-doctor violent conflicts often stem from inadequacy of health facilities in the country, spiralling treatment costs and dehumanisation of healthcare that shakes the citizens’ foundational belief that doctors are infallible service providers.
- The simmering anger of the public against injustice in healthcare is aggravated when either a patient treats the doctor as an infallible service provider, who mechanically provides services, or when a doctor looks at a patient merely as a medical issue which needs to be solved.
- Dehumanisation of healthcare has often resulted in violent confrontations between the citizens and hospitals, with medical professionals being caught in the crossfire.
- This puts the lives of medical professionals at risk, and creates a hostile environment for them to work in.
- We as a society need to counteract structural and policy constraints which pr event access to good quality healthcare in order to achieve healthcare justice.
- Doctors are often called upon as expert medical witnesses in criminal trials and spend a considerable time a waiting their turn in the crowded trial courts hampering their professional duties.
SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB