Private doctors to keep off work once a month

MUMBAI: After the flash strike by KEM Hospital doctors on Tuesday to protest against the assault on their colleagues by relatives of a patient, private doctors across the city have decided to keep off work once every month to highlight the lack of security for the medical fraternity.
The Association of Medical Consultants (AMC), in a meeting on Wednesday, decided to join the ongoing strike by ophthalmologists observed on the 24th of every month.Their protest, the doctors hoped, would make the state government realise the need to pass the long-pending legislation on doctors' protection. Patient care in hospitals, clinics and nursing homes would be affected, but emergency cases would be attended to, said doctors.
The token strike by ophthalmologists will be joined by medical associations such as the Indian Medical Association, Indian Academy of Paediatricians, General Practitioners' Association and Colo Rectal Surgeons' Association, among others.
"The recent assault on doctors at KEM Hospital highlights the need for a legislation to protect doctors,'' said Dr Lalit Kapoor, trustee of AMC. The group will meet chief minister Ashok Chavan on Sunday to highlight the need to curb the rising incidence of violence against doctors.
The attack on five resident doctors at KEM Hospital came at a time when the Maharashtra Ophthalmological Society (MOS) and the Bombay Ophthalmologists Association (BOA) had been observing the token strike.
The legislation, which is already in place in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Punjab, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, will make attacks on medical practitioners or destruction of hospital property a non-bailable offence.
The doctors demand that the offenders also get up to three years in jail and be fined up to Rs 50,000. Moreover, in cases of vandalism on medical premises, the offender should be made to pay twice the cost of the damaged property.
"The state had promised us this law over three years ago. Yet, till date, the law has not been passed despite several attacks on medical practitioners,'' said Dr Kapoor. He added that while it was scheduled to be passed in the last assembly session, the terror attacks in November pushed it to the backburner. "Now, we want the state to at least pass an ordinance that can later be made the law,'' said MOS president Dr S Natrajan.
"Families of patients cannot resort to violence if they are unhappy with the treatment. They can approach the Medical Council of India, or file a case against the doctor in question, instead of causing harm to doctors and other staff,'' added Dr Kapoor.