|
Abstract
|
"By using violence to subjugate one another we are using violence against our own souls." - Mahatma Gandhi in the collected Mahatma Gandhi XXV-279.
Kuppuswamy and Warrier analyze a relationship between Covid-19 and violence against doctors and argue that why a law is needed (to fix the challenge).[1] In Tables 1 and 2 of the review article, they enlist news of various media outlets to underscore that we are facing the problem regularly and one can turn his/her back towards the demand for protection of healthcare personnel at one's own peril.
In the article, the authors highlight that according to a newly drafted ordinance, when an aggrieved party causes injury to healthcare service personnel, they will have to pay a fine of 1 to 5 lakhs and, under the Medical Protection Act, around 10 lakhs. We are unable to grasp the logic of this amount. When a charge of medical negligence was brought against doctors in Kolkata, 7 years ago, the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India awarded a financial compensation to the husband of the victim to the tune of 11 Crores (INR 110 Million).[2]
Therefore, how is it that when a doctor is injured by deliberate malefice intent of someone, the compensation is in the range of a few lakh rupees only, we wonder. As article 14 and 15 of our Constitution provide every citizen a right to equality, why'd the success of a patient party get a reward of several crore rupees from the healthcare establishment but doctors are provided an upper ceiling of a few lakh rupees, should be pondered upon.
Second, when the patient party attacks a doctor and the matter comes up for lodging a formal police complaint, usually its hospital administration asks its residents to go ahead. But fallacy is that residents usually occupy tenure, training positions, succeeding to get the coveted seat on pure merit and their hard work. Under these circumstances they think, or are made to think, hassles of following a case in a criminal court for years, or sometimes decades, before it reaches its conclusion...
Language: en |