Junior doctor gets hand broken by patient’s friends simply for asking the patient to stand in line!

Dr. Rahul Vaswani – Junior Resident in Ophthalmology studying at SMS Medical College (Jaipur) was working in the OPD yesterday. As patients lined up for treatment, he asked one patient to get in line. To his horror, this simple request was taken as some kind of disrespect to the patient and 3 to 5 of his friends attacked Dr. Vaswani.

The attackers broke Dr. Vaswani’s hand! With his 3rd metacarpal damaged, Dr. Vaswani who is a microscopic surgeon survived the attack but is now afraid that any residual damage could very well end his career as a doctor!

Enacted in state assemblies but why not at hospitals?
This excerpt from ‘The Hindu’ titled ‘IMA to hold rally against attack on doctors’ published on June 21,2015 states- “Several states including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and Punjab have enacted the Ordinance in the Assembly.According to the Ordinance, attacks on doctors by any person would be considered a non-bailable offence punishable with a three-year to 10 year jail term and the offender would have to pay fine up to Rs.5 lakh for property damages.”

If this ordinance is being discussed in assembly why aren’t state governments making sure they are enacted and put into place as an effective law? Yes, doctors treat patients but they NEVER signed up to get beaten up, abused and crippled to the extent like Dr. Vaswani where their career might end! The government and hospital authorities have to come together and understand that patient care and doctor safety are equally important. One cannot work without the other.The attack on Dr. Vaswani highlights this statement even more strongly.

DAILY ROUNDS condemns this attack on Dr. Vaswani and supports his cause and the cause of all doctors working in India who are constantly in danger of being attacked by patients and relatives.

Story first broken by : DAILY ROUNDS

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