Doctors’ body protests, demands justice for Dr Archana Sharma

Dr Santosh Kulkarni, Joint Secretary, IMA, Maharashtra, with the poster of the protest

To condemn the demise of Dr Archana Sharma, who died by suicide, after she was booked for allegedly causing the death of a pregnant woman in Rajasthan, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) called for a protest on April 2.

Dr Santosh Kulkarni, Joint Secretary, IMA, Maharashtra said, "It is unfortunate that learned professionals are being targeted under pressure to this extent. It is miserable. We do not want any more Dr Sharma to fall prey to such acts of hooliganism and anarchy. We had called for a day-long protest, by wearing a black ribbon around our arm, though we continued examining patients during the hospital OPD hours."

Dr Kulkarni said, "In our country, there are plenty of non-qualified medicos practising allopathy medicine, but unfortunately we do not have legislation or act to curb this menace of quacks, nor the police have ever registered a case of ‘murder' in case of any death of a patient, while under treatment of such quacks. But it is shocking that police in Rajasthan registered ‘murder' charge on a qualified and experienced gold medallist doctor."

"The demise of Dr Sharma has once again showcased the real situation of medical professionals working in both rural and urban areas of our country today, where politically influenced thugs and administrative servants go beyond their call of duty and frame grave charges against doctors," said Dr Kulkarni.

Dr Santosh Kadam, Vice President, IMA State of Maharashtra, added, "In case of any death while under treatment due to any act of ‘medical negligence', as police do not have medical knowledge they are supposed to take cognizance of any such complaint by the relatives or family of next of kin and then forward the said case to the already constituted Medical Committee. Such a committee usually consists of the civil surgeon or Dean of medical college, including a respective specialised team of experts. They give their expert opinion behind the said death, and only then the police can take cognizance and register offences accordingly."

The demands

The Association of Medical Consultants, based in Mumbai with over 13,000 registered private medical practitioners have also come up with a charter of demands. Dr Nilima Vaidya Bhamare, president, stated, the demands include a) Toll-free helpline number for healthcare workers called ‘Saurakshan' for doctors in their time of distress. b) Display posters from the police commissioner warning the patients and their relatives regarding the consequences of violence against healthcare workers. c) Creation of a "black register" of truant personnel enabling healthcare facilities to red-flag them in future. d) Sensitisation of all police stations regarding the procedure to be followed according to NMC guidelines to uphold the judgement passed in the Jacob Mathews case. e) Create a cadre of IMS. (Indian Medical Services) like the IAS and IPS and f) Central stringent law for violence against doctors.