{"id":28040,"date":"2024-08-20T18:35:18","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T13:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=28040"},"modified":"2024-08-23T23:02:30","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T17:32:30","slug":"violence-against-healthcare-workers-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/20-08-2024\/violence-against-healthcare-workers-in-india","title":{"rendered":"Violence Against Healthcare Workers in India"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Violence against healthcare workers<\/strong> is a disturbingly common occurrence in India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Statistics reveal a pattern of<strong> increasing aggression, particularly in public healthcare facilities.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>These incidents highlight the<strong> harsh reality that violence is more prevalent in public health facilities <\/strong>and disproportionately affects younger and female professionals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What kind of Violence is faced by Healthcare Professionals?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>According to a 2016 paper in the National Medical Journal of India, <strong>75% of the violence<\/strong> against doctors is<strong> verbal,<\/strong> including intimidation and threats.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Workplace violence is mostly directed at <strong>junior doctors and residents<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Studies also show that <strong>female medical professionals<\/strong>, with lesser years of experience, are objectively more at risk of being on the receiving end of both physical and verbal workplace violence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The violence also happens more often in<strong> high-stake settings,<\/strong> such as in the <strong>emergency wing and intensive care units<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What are the Reasons for the Violence?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The perpetrators of violence <strong>are family members or relatives of the patient in 82.2% of cases, <\/strong>as per a paper published in PLoS ONE in 2020.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Often, patients or their relatives turn to violence because the <strong>healthcare system hasn\u2019t met their expectations.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some perpetrators become violent over <strong>concerns of the patient\u2019s condition,<\/strong> such as actual or perceived deterioration of their condition or doubts about the wrong treatment being administered.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some others become violent due to issues such as <strong>high payment dues and protracted waiting times. <\/strong>Doctors aren\u2019t responsible for either.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Impact of Violence<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Psychological Impact: <\/strong>Being on the receiving end of verbal or physical violence has an <strong>immense psychological impact.&nbsp;<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Some studies have reported symptoms of<strong> post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression in doctor<\/strong>s who have faced violence from patients or their kin.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Effect Rural Healthcare:<\/strong> India has a <strong>skewed doctor-patient ratio<\/strong>, doctors often decide to operate in resource-abundant settings for their own security. This in turn affects rural healthcare.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Effect of Quality of Healthcare:<\/strong> After experiencing violence, doctors <strong>wish to stop offering emergency services,<\/strong> refer patients sooner to more specialists, and <strong>over-investigate symptoms and prescribe more tests.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Present Scenario of Legal Protection to Healthcare Professionals<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>No central law<\/strong> existed to safeguard healthcare workers nationwide.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>As of 2020,<strong> 19 States<\/strong> had implemented their statutes, each with varying provisions. Other States and Union Territories had no laws at all.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This lack of uniformity meant protection is inconsistent.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Among States, <strong>Kerala and Karnataka <\/strong>now provide their healthcare workers with the <strong>most robust legal protections in India.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Challenges in enacting a Central law: <\/strong>A central law has not been enacted because <strong>public health is a State subject<\/strong>, and VAHCW is primarily a public health-related issue.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>While the concurrent list allows for a central law, the central government has not prioritised this issue, leaving it to the States to manage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Strengthen the System:<\/strong> To eliminate this \u2018threat\u2019, we <strong>must spend more money to strengthen the system<\/strong> from the grassroots level, such as r<strong>educing long waiting periods for treatment.&nbsp;<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The availability and accessibility of <strong>medicines, tests, and financial aid for those in need<\/strong> will greatly reduce their stress, instead of leaving them to hold their physicians responsible for it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Policy and Institutional Measures:<\/strong> I<strong>nstalling CCTV cameras and metal detectors<\/strong> at hospital entrances to deter relatives from carrying weapons are workable, but they are currently easier to realise in private settings and not at public facilities.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ensuring that there are <strong>counselors to help patients and relatives <\/strong>in times of high emotional distress can <strong>eliminate any miscommunication<\/strong> regarding a patient\u2019s condition and treatment.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In addition,<strong> a robust security system<\/strong> and not allowing more than a few relatives by a patient\u2019s bedside may also be important.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>After the West Bengal incident, the<strong> Central Government has declared<\/strong> that it will form a <strong>high-level committee to review the 2019 bill <\/strong>tabled in parliament for making the <strong>Central Act for protection of healthcare workers.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Until a central law becomes a reality, these State-level reforms represent a significant step forward in safeguarding those who dedicate their lives to caring for others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/health\/examining-the-evolution-of-legislation-addressing-violence-against-health-workers-in-india\/article68529171.ece#:~:text=A%20central%20law%20has%20not,against%20doctors%20is%20a%20symptom.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Violence against healthcare workers is a disturbingly common occurrence in India..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28040"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28170,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28040\/revisions\/28170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}