Jharkhand: Medicos miffed at ‘people’s silence over attacks on doctors’

RANCHI: Miffed at the silence of the non-medical fraternity over the recent attacks on doctors in some parts of the country, a few resident doctors in Jharkhand have expressed their anger on social media.
Dr Tanu Sharma, who is a senior resident at Phulo Jhano Medical College and Hospital in Dumka, said, “It is heart-wrenching to see that a doctor being beaten to death for trying his best to save a patient with limited resources during a pandemic.I have been in similar situations where people have tried to attack me while on duty and have tried making videos of the attack. I am scared for my safety while I discharging my duties.”
Earlier this week, a doctor was attacked at a Covid care centre in Assam by the relatives of a Covid patient. The relatives had alleged that the doctor had left their patient unattended for two hours, which led to his death.
In Karnataka, a doctor was assaulted after a six-year-old boy, whom he was treating for dengue, died on Wednesday. Upset by his death, his relatives attacked the doctor, resulting in him being admitted to hospital where his condition is said to be serious.
Dr Lily Singh, a senior resident at the Patliputra Medical College and Hospital, Dhanbad posted a picture of the Karnataka-based doctor on her social media profile and said, “Enough is enough! Was the Zomato delivery guy from Bangalore injured as grievously as this doctor and yet there was an outpouring of sympathy from everyone on social media. If that was inhumane, then what is this? Are the attacks on doctors not the same?” She added, “We too condemned the attack on the delivery boy but when a doctor is beaten to death, where is the conscience of society? Aren’t we also human beings? We have been serving the society amid the pandemic for the past last two years.”
Dr Singh was referring to an incident that took place in March in Bengaluru where an employee of a food delivery app was allegedly assaulted by a woman customer, which lead to an uproar on social media.
Dr Vikas Kumar, who is the president of the Junior Doctors’ Association at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, said that resident doctors are always at receiving end of such attacks as they are on the frontline and if anything goes wrong they are the ones who have to face the brunt. He added, “The doctor in Assam was trying to help the patient even when he knew that patient was critical and he had limited resources in store and referring him to a higher centre wasn’t a good idea as it was far away. Instead of appreciating his efforts, the boy’s family members thrashed him. Every time a doctor is assaulted, another 100 stop taking the risks they would usually do to save someone. Please do stand with us as it could be one of you who might bear the price of it and you wouldn’t know.”