An app to help doctors avoid harassment

KOLKATA: In view of increasing cases of violence against doctors by kin or attendants of patients, a medics community has come up with mobile application to ensure protection of the caregivers.

A new doctor's anti-harassment reporting app aims to help users log unwanted encounters by monitoring incidents in real time and submitting them to concerned police stations.

Explaining the modus operandi of the app, a senior doctor said, "The app comes with a customised panic button and SOS alert system. And, whenever a doctor faces such a violent situation at workplace, he can simple press "SOS button" to alert West Bengal Doctors' Forum."

"The app will send an alert not only to registered 15,000 doctors of the fourm but also to local police stations (Lalbazar and Bhabanibhawan),"he added.

He also said that the app was introduced to counter harrasment of doctors at workplace.

Apart from security app, the steps taken against the doctors in the newly formulated Clinical Establishment Act was also discussed by the forum.

The forum members disclosed their concerns about the deteriorating condition of small nursing homes and the tough time the patients are facing due to the act.