Doctors throughout Telangana are hesitating to perform dangerous surgeries after a series of violent assaults on healthcare workers by patients’ families, despite knowing that a last-minute intervention may save a life.
In most state-run hospitals, the attacks have become more frequent and dangerous. At least ten similar cases have been recorded in the state in the last year, with threats and insults being flung every day, physicians added.
“In such situations, there is hesitation among doctors to take up critical procedures where lot of risk is involved. Unlike earlier, where doctors took up a step-by-step approach to reach the last line treatment, now they are not ready to take up certain procedures, especially if the chance of survival is as little as 1-3%,” said Dr Sagar Dharmula, president Telangana Junior Doctors Association (TJUDA).
“As doctors, we are bound to take the chance even if we can extend the life of a patient by a few hours, but we are now forced to not choose a procedure that can save a life,” he added.
With frequent incidents of assault, doctors working in critical care and intensive care units (ICU) are avoiding last minute CPR on critical patients, anesthesia in a seizure patient and in rural areas even snakebite patients are turned away, or a pregnant woman with cardiac disease history is asked to leave.
