Campaign against ‘medical terrorism’ in State

As reported in local English daily 'The Assam Tribune' by Staff Reporter:

GUWAHATI, May 14 - Medical negligence has been leading to loss of around 30 lakh years of healthy life in the country annually. The situation is such that about 52 lakh of medical injuries are recorded in India, of which around 98,000 victims lose their lives every year. In India, 10 people fall victims of medical negligence every minute and more than 11 people die per hour due to medical error and negligence. This was the statement made by Dr Ankuran Dutta of the Dr Anamika Roy Memorial Trust while addressing the first advocacy meeting as part of the countrywide movement named ‘Stop Medical Terrorism’ by the Trust, at the Bishnu-Nirmala Trust Auditorium here today. The Guwahati-based Trust is demanding better health care service in India. To support the movement launched by this Trust, any supporter can type JOIN ATRUST and ‘SMS’ it to 9220092200 or give a missed call to 02262116842, said Dr Dutta. He proposed that June 25 should be observed as the medical awareness day and a day in the month of July should be observed as anti-medical terrorism day. Addressing the function, senior police officer R Chandranathan, ADGP, CID, laid stress on generating awareness among the people on the issue of medical negligence. Things related with the treatment of the patients should also be made transparent and efforts should be there to cover both the Government and the private healthcare institutes under this transparency-related initiative, he said. Dr Putul Mahanta, Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Health Research and Medico Legal Practice, regretted that once medical service was regarded to be a mission and gradually it emerged as a profession and now it has turned into a business and unethical practices in this profession are growing day by day. Organ-lifting rackets are also operating in some parts of the country, he lamented. It has also become known that many doctors are now visiting foreign lands along with their families in trips sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies. Cases of nexus between doctors and clinical laboratories also come to the fore these days. It also observed that the doctors are refusing to provide treatment to some patients, like those suffering from HIV, he rued. Referring to “surgical terrorism”, he said there are surgeons who calculate their charges on the basis of the screws and stitches they append, he said, adding, charging high fees or rates from the patients is nothing but medical terrorism. Moreover, he said, prescribing wrong medicines and wrong doses are also considered as medical negligence, besides leaving apparatus, etc., inside the body of the patient after a surgical operation. Fifty per cent of the cases of medical negligence recorded are against the surgeons. But the situation is such that 98 per cent of the cases of medical negligence are not reported, he said. Former Vice Chancellor of the KK Handiqui State Open University, Prof Srinath Baruah, laid stress on videographing the surgical operations conducted inside the operation theatres. Partha Parasar of Dergaon also narrated how he lost his sister Mousumi because of doctors’ negligence.