Handle The Heinous Kar Tragedy In A More Responsible Manner

The alleged rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital has opened a Pandora’s Box in more ways than one. Even as the CBI continues with its investigations and the Supreme Court keeps monitoring the progress and the state government keeps fulfilling the junior doctors’ demands one after another, there are no signs of these doctors resuming their duties full-fledged. On the contrary, some have gone on a hunger strike and a few had to be rushed to different hospitals as their health conditions deteriorated. Alas, amid these developments, quite a few are trying to gain political mileage and reap the benefits, thereof. In the process, the common people and particularly the marginalised sections, who cannot afford treatment in private hospitals, are the worst sufferers. This has given birth to a general atmosphere of gross mistrust due to the doublespeak that is stemming. The same set of junior doctors who had demanded CBI inquiry, are opining that they do not trust the probe agency. The agitating doctors have also expressed their displeasure over the apex court proceedings, and the state administration. They are oblivious of the fact that this type of atmosphere of mistrust across institutions, often leads to anarchy.

The apex court had in August said that judges and doctors cannot go on strike since they deal with matters involving life and liberty. Justice and medicine cannot afford to be stopped. The Madras High Court had a few years back ruled that doctors do not have the right to go on strike under any circumstances. Justice N. Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court had observed that doctors do not have the right to go on strike or boycott work under any circumstances. He had observed this while considering petitions challenging the charge memos and the transfer and posting orders issued to doctors by the director of Medical Education and director of Medical and Rural Health Services. But it seems like there are no takers. Doctors can certainly go on strike (although the current lot is branding it as selective suspension of work) but it's a complex issue that involves balancing the rights and responsibilities of both doctors and patients. Doctors have an ethical responsibility to protect their patients' welfare. However, strikes can create ethical conflicts with the Hippocratic tradition, which prioritizes patients' best interests.

These debates will continue but what has happened in the process and what had started as a spontaneous outcry of the civil society, has snowballed into a game of washing dirty linen in public. Some pertinent questions are being raised over doctors’ accepting commissions from the pharma companies, diagnostic centres, equipment companies, and overseas junkets, among others. Many skeletons are tumbling out of the cupboard. Reportedly, some prominent senior doctors, who are mentoring and leading junior doctors’ agitations, have been singled out with old newspaper clippings to drive home the point that similar allegations can be labelled against them. If people start losing faith in doctors, then another disaster is imminent. All stakeholders of the society need to exercise some restraint, have patience and behave responsibly for the benefit of their own brethren.