Doctors & patients
Medics can't be bullied by ministers. But how medics deal with patients is also a vital part of healthcare
It started with a refusal – correct decision, by the books – by Goa Medical College's emergency department to administer a routine B12 injection to a 77-year-old. She got the jab in the orthopaedic ward. It ended with an apology to GMC casualty's chief from Goa's health minister, who had suspended the doctor in a brazen public show of arrogance on camera. The video of the public humiliation correctly triggered outrage. The minister was not just badly behaved, he displayed an attribute shared by many politicians: pulling rank at the drop of a hat. In April, a UP minister on-camera wanted a Sonbhadra hospital's CMO 'sent to the jungle' because he was not available to 'welcome' the minister on arrival. He too, like his Goa counterpart, believed their high-handedness was 'speaking up for patients'. But they spoke from a point of privilege and ego alone. However, this thread – that patients need 'support' when facing doctors – brings us to another reality of Indian hospitals. One that's barely discussed.
Some doctors are often less than civil with patients in public hospitals. Dismissive behaviour with patients and nurses is not infrequent, but barely recorded in any survey. Neither is its impact on care outcomes studied – starting with patients not daring to clear doubts for fear of a dressing-down. As noted by some TOI columnists, there are various surveys of abuse of doctors but none on doctors' un-bedside manners. The social status of doctors is such that some of them routinely get away with markedly impolite behaviour especially with poor patients. Doctors in govt hospitals are rarely caught on camera – patients have far bigger problems and challenges than to call out 'doctor saab'.
This invisibilisation contrasts with the outrage that follows when a doctor is slighted. Medical fraternity speaks as one. That's a good thing. But dare a patient speak out against a doctor's behaviour? True, the doctor-patient ratio in public hospitals shows how burdened doctors are. But it's good to ask whether that's the complete explanation. Dismissive behaviour by some doctors perhaps comes, in part, from a sense of privilege. That many in govt hospitals are overworked doesn't help. The Goa case isn't one of a kind. Similar miscommunication – where to go for what kind of medical care – plays out daily pan-India. Countries like Australia and UK study doctors' behaviour towards patients in public health systems. Perhaps, that's something India should consider.
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This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
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