We can’t allow healthcare professionals to be ill-treated

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The police on Thursday filed an FIR against a 16-year-old girl who had allegedly slapped a nurse at a Kurla hospital. The incident sparked protests by healthcare workers at the BMC-run facility.

Reports stated that the nurse told the police that the patient's relatives were asked to wait outside while the staff carried out sanitation work inside the women's ward. However, the patient's behaviour became aggressive and she started shouting and verbally abusing the nurse, got discharged against medical advice and then walked in with her relatives and slapped the nurse.

We have seen so many doctors being attacked in hospitals and now we see staffers, too. There has to be an atmosphere where staffers feel safe and are protected in their work environment. Instances like these are hugely detrimental to staff morale. Employees that function in a state of trepidation, constantly looking over their shoulder in fear will not function at maximum efficiency levels as their mental health is adversely affected. One understands that there are challenges but security staff needs to be adequate and more importantly well-trained.

The staff can also be given an emergency bell button, which will bring security to their side as soon as possible even if they sense a dangerous situation is brewing. Healthcare facilities need to think about and take action if needed on guidelines about how many relatives are allowed, in visiting hours at the hospital. If it is indefinite, there can be some kind of rule curtailing the number of visitors so that there is crowd control and in some cases like these, things do not get out of hand.

As we become more hi-tech when it comes to health, do not forget the human factor. A top doc once said that we must remember that medicine has a huge mental/psychological component too. That goes for the patients and the healers/caretakers/hospital workers too.