A recent violent attack on an oncologist at a government hospital in Chennai raised concern about the safety of healthcare professionals in India. A man reportedly angry at the level of his mother’s advanced-stage cancer treatment stabbed Dr. Balaji Jaganathan seven times yesterday.
The attacker was caught by staff at the hospital who tried to flee and has since been taken into custody by police. The Tamil Nadu-based chirurgeon, Dr. Jaganathan, had undergone surgery for multiple injuries and was stable in intensive care.
As per the Indian Medical Association, over 75% of doctors in India face some form of violence, and 68.33% by patients’ relatives or attendees. The present incident belongs to a larger trend of violence in healthcare settings, which took place after the sensational case of months where a trainee doctor was raped and killed at her hospital, followed by nationwide protests and demands for better working conditions for medical practitioners.
Protests erupted across Tamil Nadu after this fresh attack. Doctors’ unions, which are considering strikes for better security and protection also presented demands. IMA, India’s biggest medical professional body issued a very stern statement against the incident.
It had called for a complete overhaul of hospital security. As it has been asserted that safety for healthcare providers is the only way to ensure effective medical services, the system should be overhauled for doctors’ safety, the body said.
A political fallout followed, and Deputy Chief Minister Udayanidhi Stalin visited the hospital, assuring tight action against the attacker. The incident has also invited political responses with opposition parties castigating the government for losing grip over adequate law and order in healthcare facilities.
Beyond protesting action within the local sphere, public outcry and appeal are clearly on the rise on social media as citizens-yes, doctors included-seek to bring authorities to consider health care workers’ safety. IMA and other medical associations demand policy reforms that would guarantee that hospitals provide a safe workplace-a prerogative they insist should be the right both of doctors and for their patients.