The Interview: Why Doctors in India need to stand United

Dr Roshan Radhakrishnan
16
If you know me personally, you know that I tend to be quite laid-back by nature. There are a few things however that do get me riled up (fanaticism & blind beliefs among others) and one of them remains the increase in violence against doctors in India.

The immensely popular doctor-exclusive social media site, DocPlexus approached me last fortnight for an interview in view of the article I had written earlier in May that had ended up in the news. DocPlexus was in fact one of the first websites to share that post and hence spread the word to other doctors, resulting in them sharing it on their social media.
Of the topics they wanted me to talk on, the one that interested me the most was something close to my heart: Why Doctors in India need to stand United.




This was easily one of the hardest interviews to write on because I am used to the much more simpler 'How long have you been blogging?' and 'What is the origin of your blog's name?' type of questions.
Anyhow, I hope I did justice to the topic and I am glad to see many of my colleagues from the medical field were very receptive to it (comments from the original interview can be viewed here), considering I have chosen once more not to sugar coat my answers and call a spade a spade.
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Excerpts:


What issues did you face that made you question the unity of doctors in India and compelled you to voice your opinion? 

I actually have been lucky so far in that I have never had to face an incident till date. It was just a case of the straw breaking the camel's back. We had been witnessing an increasing incidence of violence against doctors over the last year or so. Images and videos were available on all social media but what was really heart-breaking for me personally were the comments from the public. Rather than condemning violence, they were watching videos of elderly doctors being trashed after the death of a patient and actually applauding the act. 

Yes, there are some who bend the law in our field too but to paint all doctors with the same brush and use it as an excuse to condone and commit violence is inexcusable. I believe shortly thereafter the IMA too released their data about 75% of doctors admitting to having faced violence during their career. In all this, the one thing missing was a strong response from the medical community. I'm sure they would have condemned it in the regional IMA meetings but if that indignation stays inside those four walls, how will the rest of the world know how you feel? When I wrote my post, I honestly did not think it would make a difference. 

Three years back, I had written what I still believe was a far better post “Doctors, Defend thyself”, requesting the public to have faith in doctors and give us a chance. That was appreciated by doctors but stayed within our community. I guess it is a sign of the times that this time around, doctors shared it in far greater numbers forcing the media to take note. I was halfway through completing my next post – a movie review - when I started to get the news from doctors across various states that my article was being actively discussed in their departments by heads and juniors alike. I guess what worked this time was the ‘thesis-like’ format – the first 3/4th of the article is undeniable facts and actual events, all with references.  

Why do you think doctors in India need to stand united?


Paraphrasing from the words of Pastor Martin Niemoller,

“First they came for the CMOs, and I did not speak out-
Because I was not a CMO.
Then they came for the intensivists, and I did not speak out-
Because I was not an intensivist.
Then they came for the surgeons, and I did not speak out-
Because I was not a surgeon.
Then they came for me
and I found there was no one left to speak for me.'

This isn’t the same world as a generation ago. The doctor-patient relationship has eroded and it is a fact that we must accept. Just because violence is not occurring in your hospital today, does not mean that it will not happen tomorrow. Every act of violence you ignore emboldens the next one. We are seeing this in every aspect of our social and political life today as well, are we not? Unlike them though, for us, there are no voices – political or otherwise - to speak out simply because we are all caught up in our own busy schedules.

You can’t afford to live in a cocoon within your hospital, thinking that whatever is happening elsewhere will not affect you. Social media links us all today. Don’t underestimate – or worse, ignore – the potential it has to unite or divide. A guy seeing what he believes is medical negligence being committed by a doctor elsewhere will start to wonder about the integrity of doctors in his city too. It is human nature, isn’t it?



What do you think are some of the stressful societal issues doctors face every day?


Be frank. You know we are in a lose-lose situation presently.

When the government funding to healthcare gets slashed by 20% at a time when even an increase by 200% would barely be sufficient, that puts an untenable strain on the 31% of healthcare it caters to. The remaining 69% which forms the private sector of healthcare has to work without the subsidies and so naturally, the burden of paying a heavier price falls on the poor patient. When he has to part with a significant amount of his savings for an ailment (or sadly, a chronic one), that anger falls upon the ‘evil doctor’ who he sees as fleecing him. Since in his eyes, the patient is now paying top dollar, he expects that his diabetes be cured completely; that the single pill of amlodipine must be enough to control his hypertension once and for all; that two shots of nebulization must undo decades of a smoker’s lung.

Anything less is failure on the part of the doctor, even if he has explained the long term ramifications of his disease. And well, if the patient were to unfortunately die while in hospital care, it has sadly become opportune to blame the doctor for providing inadequate care or for injecting a wrong drug – the anguish at the loss of a loved one turns into rage at the one who they feel has failed them.

In a nutshell, we are “ONLY” short of functioning doctors, MBBS seats, post-graduation seats, primary hospitals, secondary hospitals, finances, beds, sterile equipment and medication. I can understand if we are talking about a third world country but this is supposed to be one of the most influential developing countries in the world with a foot already in the ‘developed country’ section. How can you hope to progress while leaving behind the healthcare aspect?

There is a rise in the incidence of attack or abuse towards doctors. What do you think are the reasons behind such violence? How should doctors raise this issue fairly to concerned authorities?


I am not a big advocate of the ‘present day doctors are evil & money minded’ theory that many proclaim and I hate that it is immediately brought up whenever an incidence of violence against a doctor occurs. You may differ with me on this but give me a moment to place my argument.

Do a random Google search and look at the cases of violence occurring over the last year against Indian doctors. From the media reports, you and I as doctors can get an idea of what has occurred in most of those cases.

Invariably, it is the death of a patient often brought with multiple co-morbidities or during an epidemic that triggers the assault. The doctor? A casualty medical officer or an intensivist. What money did these people try to steal from the patient that ended up in the patient dying? Were these doctors so evil that they withheld BLS and defibrillation because they did not get paid under the table?

  • An elderly doctor getting beaten up after a patient with a stroke and intracranial bleeding dies half an hour after admission. 
  • A radiologist murdered because he refused to reveal the sex of the fetus. 
  • A casualty officer beaten and having her clothes torn and threatened with rape because she followed triage instead of giving priority to a particular patient. 
  • A gynaecologist beaten because she confirmed that a miscarriage had occurred. 
  • A surgeon arrested because patients died in a government sponsored camp due to tainted pharmaceutical medicines.


Where are the evil doctors? The money minded ones ‘who need to be beaten up’? Yes, you and I both know they exist but these people getting beaten up – are they being beaten up for a crime they committed? Or for being the bearer of bad news? Stop equating one with the other. Those who are guilty of cheating patients or medical negligence definitely deserve to be punished BY THE LAW but don’t use that as an excuse to defend violence today. 

What can we do about it?

I want more doctors to come forth and express their views. I want the voices of IMAs to be heard. Everyone I used to talk to would ask me what the point was since their one voice couldn't make a difference. I hope I proved that aspect wrong with the one post that ended up being shared over 25,000 times, landed on the front page of newspapers, and in various social media formats extending all the way to BBC.

One voice can indeed be heard; not just within a room or hall but across the world.

And if one nutty anaesthetist like me - after inhaling residual anaesthesia gases of halothane and isoflurane - can get everybody to sit up and finally take note of what ails the medical system in our country, can you imagine what all of us could do if we spoke in unison? The best solutions to what ails the Indian healthcare system and how it can be treated lies with the doctors here, not the politicians...  I believe that sincerely.

Share your experiences. Share your stories. Share your solutions. But be heard.

Regarding a more ‘on the streets’ approach, while it is easy to say the standard ‘explain the condition to the patient’s relatives’ line, the fact is that I would ask you all to ensure your safety as well. Ensure your hospitals provide adequate security measures to handle such situations.   


At the moment, how can doctors protect their decisions as a medical professional? 

Documentation. It is as simple as that. Write your prescriptions legibly, noting the exact duration you have advised for the prescribed medicines and document not just your findings but also your recommendations. Read up well on medico-legal aspects related to our profession. Know your own rights, both as a provider of medicine as well (God forbid) as a victim of hospital violence. In fact, I would really appreciate it if DocPlexus would get the views of a true legal expert on this aspect (or re-share, in case there has been one earlier) so that everyone could save it on to their laptops or mobile devices too. It was fine when we were in a respected doctor- patient relationship. 

But unfortunately, today it is a scary ménage-e-trois with the doctor-patient-lawyer relationship ensuring your acts of goodwill get scrutinized by people whose job it is to twist your every move to prove you were wrong. Hearing someone claim in court that a doctor was incompetent because he gave ondansetron to a retching patient when the textbooks ‘clearly show’ that ondansetron was an anti-cancer drug (I know it is historically but its primary use remains elsewhere) may sound silly to you and me. But it becomes hard to digest when you hear the judge agree with the lawyer on that! 

According to you, how can the cooperation between doctors be increased?


Enough with this verbal jousting. We do no favours to our profession by stealing a few patients from others by bad-mouthing someone else. Save the debates on treatment options for a friendly conversation over the phone after the patient has left or better yet, informally at IMA meetings.

At any rate, I am a big advocate of camaraderie between doctors. And I don’t mean necessarily sector specific (orthopedicians only/ surgeons only etc). Informal get-togethers with the families; learning to be more than just colleagues but instead friends outside the hospital gates as well.

In my other persona as a blogger, over the years I have developed valuable friendships with like-minded friends from all across India. We don’t differentiate based on categories of blog or state, professional disparities, gender, age or any such silly boundaries. Most importantly, it feels like being with an extended family and we know we have each other to fall back on whenever we need help (ranging from online assistance, accommodation in a new city and yes, even getting medical assistance and ambulance services available from a different state altogether.)

If hundreds of total strangers – across all castes, religions and political affiliations - can form such strong bonds, why can’t we (who have gone through the same experiences as students for the best years of our lives) not know each other better? You don’t have to like everyone in your town but don’t be an island too. 

How can IMA, MCI help bring medical community together? Should medical professionals create pressure groups?

I realise that the MCI needs to toe the line of the government but you need to realize you are primarily the voice of 8 lakh Indian doctors. You represent us. And if you remain silent or give standard catchphrases and walk away, then obviously the medical community is going to feel disillusioned.
When the government says that they are reducing the healthcare budget, you should not be accepting it gracefully. You should have been making a lot more noise (earning our respect thus) and saying, “Hell No! This won’t do. I want my countrymen to be healthier than they were last year and you have a responsibility to ensure that happens.”

I thought the IMA was supposed to be our local pressure group! Jokes aside, I've seen this concept being passed around on social media a few months ago wherein doctors of a city form a local whatsapp group. In the event of a potential situation starting to turn violent, a message is sent and doctors in the group converge there to even the numbers.
My mind is conflicted - on the one hand, the initial episodes depicted there have all been successful and averted further violence. But I'm also sad - this should not have been our job. We should have been concentrating on differential diagnoses and ligating bleeders rather than postponing OPDs and cases. That protection should have been the responsibility of law makers and the police.

If you want me to take a stand, I would say yes, make pressure groups within your localities. Until that mythical date arrives when there are adequate steps taken to curb violence against doctors, I fear we need to look out for ourselves.


In this digital age, how can Docplexus aid in uniting medical professionals in India? 

Docplexus has a much bigger role than it is possibly aware of. In this digital world where everything is available at the click of a button, it is lovely to see that this includes our fellow brethren. You connect us all – dare I say it – better than certain actual medical associations. For starters, finally doctors from all across India are directly in contact with each other instead of the 50 odd staff in their hospital alone. I see tough cases being discussed and information imparted which helps us all learn. I also get to interact directly with doctors much more senior to me and seek their point of view and advice. More importantly, it helps us get to know each other long before we actually meet. When we get to know each other and respect each other’s opinions, we stop seeing them as ‘just’ colleagues and start to see them as friends we can rely on. 


You can read My Entire Interview Here on DocPlexus as well.



Related links to this topic include:
1. The viral post itself.
2. A earlier post from 2012 (published three weeks before actor Aamir Khan's infamous 'doctors' episode on Satyameva Jayate. Sadly, things would only deteriorate further for the Indian medical system from then till now.) - Doctors, Defend Thyself.
3. My stern pointers on how to end this cycle of violence against doctors (which would go on to be published in The Huffington Post)


Do let me know (here at the blog) what you think of it. More importantly, tell me about your own doctor-patient interactions. What impression did it leave you with - good or bad, great or unimpressive, crook or angel. I want to hear from you on this.


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16Comments

Let me know what you think.

  1. As you rightly pointed out. doctors who do not face emergencies, who sit and only do non medical work like admin work. talk against doctors. most often such a thing is to achieve some kind political mileage or some kind of benefit.

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  2. Insightful interview Doc. I would admit that I have been misinformed and wrongly opinionated on this issue because of a few personal instances. But it's great to know the whole story from the other side to understand the whole picture. Great interview !

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  3. Danny_simonJuly 03, 2018

    Great going doc! Doctors are human too! With violence going up against us... We're being forced to draw lines which probably wouldn't have been the case earlier!

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  4. Awesome interview, but its a sad state of affairs.

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  5. Got to know a lot about you Doctor through this interview and the post you have linked here.. post Satyamev Jayate 2012.
    What you have written holds absolutely true and justifiable.. The country really need to look beyond, check some statistics, do some background study and then point fingers at the doctors.
    Mostly what common man sees, or what one encounters is what resides in their heads by seeing what is shown.. Just the way it happens with many.. I haven't had much experience with doctors and I am glad about that. Touch wood. But a close family member, when that person has to go to hospital and get admitted for no reason, a gynac, fooling the expecting mother in order to make her stay so that she can earn those extra rupees, an old man, on the his death bed is kept on a ventilator (when the person has already died), and all of it in a private hospital.. succumbing to huge costs of something that has not been required, for unnecessarily recommending n number of tests and portraying surgery as the only option left to survive and finally removing a body part forever,.. that is where anger reaps in.. That is where common man gets fooled.. for he has not studied medical and is not familiar with the technical jargon as well.. what doctor says, he has to obey.. and gets set in a trap.. that is where it starts hurting..! Doctors, undoubtedly do the most noble thing any man could ever do, and I have my due respect for all the pain, for being sleep deprived, for being ready on their feet 24*7, for putting their patients needs ahead of theirs and their family's, for going to villages and healing people without basic facilities.. everything..!

    May be country needs, more doctors like you and posts like these to inspire them to come forward. And the ones I wrote about, need to be punished by LAW..

    It was an eye opening post Doctor. Thank you for writing this one! Seriously!

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  6. The Lancet has spoken out finally on the topic, emphasizing how violence in healthcare can be disastrous in the long run... I guess the question is, is anybody listening?

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  7. 'Sad' is a kind word. There are some aspects which are at the brink of disaster and that includes impending epidemics (not my words, but that of national health care bodies specific to those diseases). Everyone is too busy booking tickets for their online 'enemies' to Pakistan that they are not bothered to actually debate a major issue like healthcare that sees beyond religion, caste and state

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  8. Geet, believe me. If I knew any such experience, I would tell you directly online here. But in over 15 years in the profession, I have neither encountered nor heard of a doctor who
    1) places a dead man on a ventilator
    2) removes a body part unnecessarily.


    Even the example which our 'beloved' Aamir Khan cried for in SJ was a case which any surgeon worth his salt would tell you requires the amputation to prevent further loss of limb. That was however a good example of jousting - where one doc contradicts the other without having seen the patient in the first scenario when things were worse.


    As for high costs of investigations, well here's the thing. Thanks to legal eagles now perching over our heads when cases are filed, I have no other option but to practice defensive medicine and do a battery of tests to ensure the patient has been properly evaluated before surgery. Yes, it is something that has affected even doctors in other countries and adds billions to patient healthcare but what option is left? Do a surgery without any investigations and get labeled an incompetent & have my career ended by some lawyer if a case goes bad?


    Trust me. A lot of us hate that we are forced into defensive medicine now... I know I do. But then, the choice has been taken out of our hands.

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  9. Got to know a lot more about you because of this interview!
    Yes, Doctors are humans too with emotions and feelings.. you are overworked , tired and unappreciated most of the times... They say being a doc is a selfless calling - I kind of think its true..
    but there are so many greedy elements, just like in other professions which give doctors a bad name and also mistrust..
    Great interview doc! Good going! :)

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  10. I totally second your thoughts Roshan.. Trust me.. and you are only doing your job, getting tests done etc etc, but only if they are required. Doctors, sometimes prescribe test which are not required, but only to fill their pockets, and this is not something that patients claim, this is something, that other doctors claim (after seeing the reports and telling that these tests were not required at all).

    Then, I had this lady, who wanted to get her knee replaced, and she surveyed her folks before moving ahead, where she found with one of her folks, that one of the doctors had strongly recommended a surgery, and she too succumbed to it as well.. but after a few days when she consulted another doctor, he was totally against the same, saying that her issue could be resolved with a few regular exercises, while surgery was a distant thing for her to think of at this stage!
    My friend, very close, was admitted to the hospital for delivering a baby. The doctor took her in. First few days she kept delaying, saying there was some infection and she can't operate, then she left the town for 2 days, and then while she was back, she said it will take another week for her to get it resolved. My friend's parents felt something fishy and met her in person, trying to know what exactly was going on. They did got a little annoyed with the way she was responding and probably said a word or two to her and none of this (the meeting) was known to my friend. The doctor grew furious and came to my friend and said such harsh words, saying that only one life could be saved, either her or her baby; may be she'll have to remove her uterus, lot of blood flow will be there, and I don't know what all crap. My friend's family immediately left the hospital and took her to another city for the delivery where she delivered a baby girl just fine.. without any complications, without any infection!
    When I hear such stories, i really don't know whom to trust, what to do and whom to refer.

    I just hope posts like yours and other methods prove worthy and the state gets improved. Not all the doctors are like hers, I do know that.

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  11. Pixie, we never deny there are wrong doers in our field... that's natural in any field when you think of it. But then, which other field also faces a track record of 75% incidence of violence against them?
    And as I mentioned in the cases above, the doctors getting beaten up aren't the ones who are doing any wrong... they are just conveying the news to the bystanders. You can't beat us for that!
    At the end of the day, it is a hospital... people die here.

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  12. Okay, I have no idea why there was such a difference of opinion between the two doctors but then, i can't add my thoughts without verbally contradicting them which would make me ahypocrite, since I don't know the details they noted. :D


    But yes, this is a point I have raised in the interview - "verbal jousting". If doctors have differing opinions, they ought to discuss it amongst themselves and see why the other doctor thought such a treatment was necessary at all. And yes, it happens a lot more frequently than I would have liked. Sigh...

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  13. I think interviews that reveal more about the person than just the blogger is quite nice. And am glad that I read this interview , but it also saddens me to see why doctors are attacked, and the examples stated there only show a lack of sense on the part of the attackers. Your interview overall, it is very frank, balanced and the replies to the questions well thought and expressed as well.

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  14. Vishal BheerooJuly 03, 2018

    A brilliant interview on what plague health care today with burden on patient and reduction of funding. Sadly, education and healthcare, the most important, are being denied by such measures. It's stupid to attack doctors and blame them for everything. Love how honest you come across in your interview and thoughts, Doc.

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  15. Thanks Vinay. Sorry for the delay. Don't know how I missed this comment. It is a pitiful condition to be honest and you can see in the main interview that most of the docs agree with that. Sadly, nobody in the required ministries seem to feel it requires any further attention

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  16. You've hit the nail on the head.. education and healthcare should have been key priorities,,, instead they are treated so badly these days. Thanks... I wish that honesty could make some difference where it mattered.

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