Rajasthan gynaecologist Dr Archna's suicide a wakeup call, says IMA
Amritsar, March 30
Terming the suicide of Dr Archna Sharma, a Rajasthan gynaecologist who took the extreme step after she was booked for negligence following the death of a patient, as a wakeup call, the Indian Medical Association-Amritsar chapter has urged the government, society and medical fraternity to look into the doctor-patient relationship afresh.
IMA Amritsar president Dr RS Sethi said: “The unfortunate incident is a wakeup call for all of us. We need to introspect and try to strengthen the bond between a doctor and a patient.” He said medical staff across the country was being perceived as the culprit whenever a patient dies.
‘Look into doctor-patient relation afresh’
- Indian Medical Association-Amritsar chapter urges government and society to look into the doctor-patient relationship afresh
- The Rajasthan gynaecologist, Dr Archna Sharma, took the extreme step after she was booked for negligence following the death of a patient
- Sethi said a campaign to learn from the Dr Archna’s sacrifice would be launched soon
“It seems that doctors and other medical employees are soft targets. Everyone can lend their anger upon them and they can even be made scapegoats by the governments. There are numerous instances which can be quoted to point out this sad state of affairs,” said Dr Sethi.
The IMA president stated that over 1,000 doctors had sacrificed their lives during the Covid pandemic in the country. “In Amritsar, at least 27 cases of violence against doctors have been reported in the recent past. In most of these cases, medical fraternity, despite being on right side of law and ethics, was treated as criminals,” he lamented.
Sethi said soon a campaign to learn from the sacrifice of Dr Archna and to understand the situation and circumstances in which she had to end her life would be initiated. —
