Reports on the issue of violence against doctors has been in news for some time. The World Health Organisation has estimated between 8 per cent to 38 per cent health providers across the world as being subjected to physical violence in their careers. Little is known about forms and consequences of violence against doctors. Even lesser is known about perspectives of doctors towards the phenomenon of violence faced by them.

 

CEHAT undertook such a study to understand causes for violence, its exact nature as well as recommendations from doctors to create a comprehensive response towards such occurrences. The study report “Violence Against Resident Doctors in Maharashtra: Their Perspective on Occurrence, Consequences and Redressal Mechanisms”, focuses on resident medical doctors as they are often the first point of contact with patients, care givers and general public; they are therefore at the receiving end of violence directed against the medical system.

 

The report brings forth different forms of violence ranging from being threatened and humiliated to being slapped, pushed and assaulted with objects. Cause for such violence was attributed to the department being over crowed, death of a patient and dissatisfaction about the medical services offered. The report highlights strong impact of such violence on the resident doctors and documents specific recommendations to deal with it. It also highlights lacunae in current management of episodes of violence. Resident doctors in this report call for implementation of procedures such as availability of senior doctors in cases of death of patient, stringent gate pass system for entry to OPDs / wards and encouragement from administration to report instances of violence. We sincerely hope that policy makers and hospital administrators will bring about the necessary changes to make hospitals a safe work place for all its health personnel.