‘We are not Gods’ to save docs from violence

Ahmedabad: An internal survey carried out by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in 2017 revealed that one in three doctors under survey had reported facing some sort of violence in their career. “Nobody has authentic statistics as the definition of violence is also broad. But we are now pushing for the stringent norms to stop it,” said Dr R V Asokan, secretary general of IMA.

Dr Asokan was one of the speakers at IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) on Saturday at an event to launch a short film ‘We are not Gods.’ The short film, made in association of a city-based hospital and IIM-A, is based on a true story and highlights issues including doctor-patient relationship, importance of right communication and expectations of the relatives.

Dr Rajesh Chandwani, chair of Centre for Management of Health Services at IIM-A, said that the film is aimed at creating awareness about the violence faced by the doctors that not only affects morale of the professionals but also creates trust issues. “The film has been submitted to IMA and it would soon be made public,” he said.

When questioned whether IMA would also pay heed to the genuine complaints in cases against the doctors, Dr Asokan said that all have duty to prevent unfortunate incidents and surely they would think about it. “We have already pushed the law to prevent violence with the central government and are hopeful of positive outcome,” he said. Panel experts raised issues such as commercialization of doctor-patient relationship and general intolerance in the society.