Restoration of DOCTOR - PATIENT Healthy Relationship

We are very much aware of the recent assault of junior doctors in Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal which led to a nationwide protest and strike. About 8,00,000 doctors across the country went on a strike with several demands to protect their holy profession.

The case here sounded like, the outraged relatives of the patient who died on 10 June brutally assaulted the doctors which included interns with several injuries, turning hospital into a battleground. Such violence needs to be strongly condemned.

This was just a flash point. According to the IMA Surveys, 75% of doctors have complained of verbal abuse and 12% of physical violence. A serious policy and law needs to be framed in this regard and I believe the doctor’s demand for better working condition and protection is viable.

“A doctor-patient relationship is the only secular thing in the world”. This needs to be restored very gently. I suppose this violence to be completely unintentional. It’s just the result of inadequate attention in the policy discourse towards the health care system.

Today, less than 2% of India’s GDP is invested on healthcare, making it one of the lowest investors in the sector globally. Our country has just one doctor for every 11000 people and ratio is far worse in some states. The recommended ratio is 1 doctor for every 1000 people. In addition to this, we lack proper infrastructure particularly in rural areas; equipments; space and even shortage of hospitals. The condition in public hospitals is even worse. India’s population in increasing rapidly and the need of the hour is to cope up with the much needed scarce resources.

If we look from patient's point of view, they travel long distances; don’t get a proper place to sit and drinking water facility;  have to be the part of long queues even if it’s an emergency case resulting in improper attention from doctor’s side. Exhausted, anxious and confused by medical terminology they are unable to understand and become emotionally volatile which comes out in the form of excruciating violence.

Now if we understand the same subject from a doctor's point of view, he tries to gives his best in every single patient. The harried doctors has to cope with deluge of patients everyday; stay in the overcrowded place 18 hours a day and deal with not just the patient but the additional family members and friends who come along and no holidays which makes their life dreadful. Between all this emotions boil over.

So, we need to accept the fact, conditions on both the side are worsened. Both are suffering. Various reforms, laws and policies, efficient and effective use of resources needs to be looked upon to maintain the aura of healthy Doctor-Patient relationship.

On the same note, I agree that young doctors need to be trained to be empathetic while conveying bad news to the patient’s relative. They lack communication skills to engage with emotionally-charged relatives of patients suffering life-threatening diseases. Teaching behavioural sciences at undergraduate and postgraduate level can be helpful to inculcate compassion within them resulting into a more fruitful and healthy doctor- patient relationship.

To conclude, Hippocrates once remarked “Some Patients Recover, because they believe in Doctors”. A solemn trust has to be there between a doctor and a patient. Today, every step towards restoring the healthy doctor-patient relationship counts.