Doctor's Day...

I am sure, you all must have read about the recent spate of attacks against doctors in India. There is a paradigm shift in the patients, their relatives and friends attitude towards doctors and the media has a skeptical attitude towards medical services. Hundreds of doctors in Maharashtra and other states were on strike recently. Doctors were seeking more security at their workplace due to an increase in violence against doctors recently in India. We must condemn such attacks on doctors and unabated violence against doctors. Patient dissatisfaction, agitated friends and relatives accompanying patients are the usual perpetrators of violence at the emergency, intensive care unit, and post-surgical wards. There is an urgent need to develop a meaningful doctor patient relationship and media should play a more responsible role to mitigate this problem. Public perceptions towards doctors must change and media should not show negative attitude towards doctors. Public must trust their doctors to deliver high quality care. If you don't trust your doctors and resort to frequent violence against doctors, I need not mention who would be the losers...let us trust each other and celebrate the Doctor's Day on 1 July...Col Pendyala Pradeep, Anaesthesiologist.