Why did Indian doctors stage nationwide strike?
The protest is in solidarity with doctors in West Bengal after three were beaten by the relatives of a man who died
They protested in solidarity with their counterparts in West Bengal
Hundreds of thousands of doctors across India went on strike yesterday demanding better working conditions and vastly improved protection from violent kin of patients, the country’s top medical body said, as the outrage over lax security conditions at hospitals escalated.
What is the strike all about?
The nationwide strike, which will last until this morning, is in solidarity with doctors in the eastern state of West Bengal after three were viciously attacked by the relatives of a man who died.
The incident resonated with Indian doctors, many of whom are poorly paid and overworked compared with their foreign counterparts. The Indian Medical Association (IMA), representing 350,000 of India’s 900,000 doctors, called for tougher punishments for those assaulting medical staff.
Who exactly are striking?
The strike, which does not include emergency services, takes place as parliament convened for the first time since Prime Minister Narendra Modi was re-elected in a landslide last month. “Practically, the entire medical fraternity is on strike,” Dr RV Asokan, the IMA’s honorary general secretary, said yesterday. “Everybody is on the street.”
What do the doctors want?
Blaming the attacks in part on “high expectations” by patients, poor infrastructure and inadequate staffing, the IMA said hospitals should have more security cameras and that the entry of visitors to hospitals should be restricted. Thousands of doctors protested outside hospitals across India yesterday, holding placards and wearing black arm bands and bloodied mock bandages. The IMA is demanding tougher punishments for those who attack doctors, as well as higher recruitment to support the overworked staff.
How did this all start?
Doctors in West Bengal’s capital Kolkata have been on strike since last Monday, when a family assaulted three doctors after a relative died during treatment at the state-run NRS Hospital. The family, who blamed the death on negligence by the doctors, lashed out violently and left two of the medical staff critically injured. The strike in West Bengal, which has also been wracked by weeks of political violence with almost 20 people killed, has crippled medical services for the state’s 90 million people.
Why is the workload on doctors such a concern?
A doctor in an outpatient unit in India often saw more than 100 patients in a day, Asokan said, and despite tens of thousands of junior doctors graduating every year, many were out of work. “The workload of doctors is inhuman,” he said. “The government is not recruiting enough.” There were queues at Ernakulam Government Hospital in the southern state of Kerala yesterday morning, as patients waited to consult the limited number of doctors who were on duty.
What has India’s top court said?
The Indian Supreme Court has agreed to hear a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking deployment of security in government hospitals. A Vacation Bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Surya Kant listed the matter for hearing today. The plea sought the court’s direction to the federal government and the West Bengal government to provide an “enabling environment”.
The petition, filed by advocate Alok Srivastava, cited a study by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) stating that more than 75 per cent of doctors across the country have faced some form of violence. This study concluded that 50
per cent of violent incidents took place in the Intensive Care Unit of hospitals, and in 70 per cent of the cases, the relatives of the patients were involved.
What is the state of India’s health infrastructure?
India spends less than two per cent of its GDP on health care, making it one of the lowest investors in the sector globally, with the World Health Organisation placing it below both Iraq and Venezuela. However, Modicare — a quietly successful part of Modi’s surprising re-election — is a huge public health initiative set to benefit the poorest.